Set in Stone
by XianPu922
Summary: When Dia offered Ruby a chance to travel the Hoenn region with a Pokemon of her very own, of course she said yes! Who would turn down such an incredible opportunity to travel a completely foreign land? Read on as Ruby does her thing and attempts to become the Rubesty there ever was!
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: A product of the Ruby discord's thought process and my boredom. I'm honestly surprised no one else has done this before, given how there is actually a Pokemon Ruby.

* * *

Dear Ruby,

Today, I received a promotion from the Pokemon League, Hoenn branch. I am now the official gym leader of the Petalburg City gym, the 5th gym leader that they've had since the gym was moved from Fallabor Town. As a benefit of becoming gym leader, I am allowed to choose one trainer to receive a Starter Pokemon from the region's professor, a very exclusive offer. Naturally, I am extending this chance to you first, as I believe you could accomplish great things in the realm of Pokemon Contests.

However, there is a catch to this. You and Mother would have to pack up from your home in Celadon City and move to the Hoenn Region in order to receive your Pokemon. I have attached below a listing for a reasonably priced house in Littleroot Town that I think you both would find comfortable. I hope you are able to accept this offer, but if not, I will understand your decision. Either way, please respond as soon as you've made your decision.

From,

Your Reliable Older Sister

Dia Kurosawa

* * *

Dear Onee-chan,

Mom says that sounds like a great idea! We should be able to move to Littleroot Town in a month or two! Can't wait to see you again Big Sis! It's been what, like two years since you left Celadon? We have a lot of catching up to do!

See you soon!

Ruby Kurosawa

* * *

When she arrived in the Hoenn region, she noticed two colors that really stood out in the region. The blue of the ocean, and the green of the trees and grass. It was a nice change from the dull grays and whites that Ruby was used to from the bustling city life in Celadon. The air was also a lot cleaner, which wasn't saying much, considering her old house had been next to a family or two of Grimer. It was still nice however, and she found herself a lot calmer than she thought she would be in her first day away from Kanto.

It took another day or two to travel from the airport in Slateport to Littleroot, but Ruby didn't mind. After all, so many of the Pokemon she was seeing were totally new to her. She wondered if she'd get one of those Pokedexes they showed off on the technology channels after she obtained her first Pokemon, but she doubted they'd trust a klutz like her with something so expensive.

"So Ruby, have you looked into which Pokemon you're going to pick?"

Ruby gave a little jump, as her mom had been silent the entire ride up to this point. "Um, yeah. There's Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip, I think? I looked up their evolutions too, Sceptile, Blaziken, and Swampert."

A small nod from Ruby's left. "That's right. Naturally no contest champion would dare use a Swampert, not with all the other, much cuter Water Type Pokemon that are out there to choose from," she dismissed outright. "The other two aren't bad starts however, so it's up to you which one you use."

"Y-yeah, of course Mom. I'll make sure to remember that."

* * *

Littleroot lived up to its name alright, Ruby thought. It was indeed little, with maybe one or two stores, and maybe ten or fifteen houses in the entire town. If this was Celadon, she would barely consider it a neighborhood. The town was pretty quiet though, which was enjoyable.

The Kurosawa house was smaller than most of the apartments she was used to, but it was bigger than her family's apartment, a single-story ranch home with a nice front porch and three bedrooms, one for Ruby, one for her parents, and one for when Dia came home to visit. If her memory was correct, it also was right next to the professor's house.

Ruby spent most of her first day in Littleroot sitting on the front porch while the moving company had their Machokes do the heavy lifting. She didn't want to get in their way, and sitting on the porch swing, just rocking it and watching the flocks of Taillow in the distance, was more relaxing than it should have been.

The next day however, was the big day. Dia was supposed to get in town a little after noon, and after that they'd go over and Ruby would pick her Starter Pokemon. Truth be told, she was pretty nervous about the whole thing. Her entire family expected great things from Ruby in the contest realm, and she didn't want to let them down.

* * *

Dia arrived on time, of course, but Ruby was a bit surprised to see her ride into the town square on a Swellow instead of just coming by car. Petalburg was only two towns over after all, so she didn't really think sis needed to fly into town. "Hello Ruby-chan!" Dia greeted as she got off the bird before giving a little wave. "Long time no see. How's my favorite little sister feeling today?"

"Hehe, I'm your only sister Onee-chan, I sure hope I'm your favorite," Ruby giggled in response. "I'm a bit nervous, to be honest. Today is a pretty big deal after all."

Dia pulled out her Pokeball and recalled Swellow before walking up to hug her. Ruby of course eagerly hugged her back, arms easily reaching around Dia, unlike the last time they'd met up, where they could barely reach her shoulders. Of course, Ruby had only been thirteen back then, but it was still nice to remember how much taller she'd gotten. "I'm glad there were no challengers scheduled for today. Made it a lot easier to make it over here, since I didn't have to postpone anything."

"That's good to hear," Ruby chirped in response. "How is that going anyway? Last I heard you were at like, twenty wins and three losses?"

"Yeah, I've had a few more wins since then," Dia answered. "They're considering re-adding the old prerequisite of needing four badges before challenging my gym. It's been a few years since they last needed to use that rule, but there are too many new trainers thinking they can handle a gym right off the bat. Of course I go easy on their Pokemon," she added as an afterthought, "but it's still getting to be a problem."

Ruby smirked at the response. "Wow, big sis sure is strong!"

"Eh? Well, it's not really that big of a deal..." Dia stuttered, but Ruby could tell she was lying.

"Onee-chan, you're scratching your mole again," she deadpanned.

* * *

The local Pokemon laboratory stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the small houses surrounding it. About three or four stories tall, Ruby mused that it wouldn't have stood out at all if inserted somewhere in Celadon's sprawling metro area. Regardless, as she listened to Dia as she told Ruby about her experiences with the professor, Ruby pondered why someone studying Pokemon would put their lab so far away from any large cities. Surely having a bigger workplace would help with research, she figured.

Ruby went ahead and opened the door first into the Pokemon Lab, only to be immediately tackled to the ground by some sort of brown blur, letting out a shriek as they fell.

"You were right Dia-chan! Your sister is so adorable, zura!"

"Zura?" Ruby repeated, somewhat befuddled.

Dia sighed before pulling them both up. "Didn't I warn you she was easily frightened, Hanamaru-san?"

The other girl-Hanamaru-brushed herself off before extending a slender hand out to her. "Sorry about that, it's just always nice to see new friends in town! Like your sister said, my name's Hanamaru, Hanamaru Kunikida!"

Ruby gingerly reached out to grab Hanamaru's hand. "Ruby Kurosawa, nice to meet you."

"So were you just going to tackle the first person to enter regardless of who came in that door?" A deeper voice called out from inside. "What if it was just the mailman dropping off a package?"

Hanamaru tried to hide what looked like a faint blush as she turned back to the lab. "Um, sorry Papa! Just a bit excited is all, zura!" She backed up a bit to allow the Kurosawas inside. Ruby saw who she guessed was the professor. The man was a bit wide, but he was VERY tall, probably at least six-foot-five. She probably was only able to come up to his shoulder if she stood on her toes. If she didn't know better, Ruby would have guessed the guy was a lumberjack or something similarly labor-intensive, and she had trouble imagining him in a lab coat. "Ah, the Kurosawa family! Dia-san has told me a lot about you, especially you," he said, pointing at her.

"Ah, really?" Ruby replied.

"Well of course," Dia answered, as if it was obvious. "Professor Kunikida likes to know just who he's giving his Pokemon to, after all. He likes to only do so with those who will treat Pokemon with care."

"Exactly," the professor agreed, pulling open his briefcase. He tossed 3 Pokeballs into the air, and out popped the starters that Ruby had seen during her search. "Here are your choices, Miss Kurosawa. Choose carefully, as you'll only get one!"

Ruby glanced from Treecko, to Torchic, to Mudkip. She spent about 3 minutes looking between them as her mom and sister looked on, somewhat confused. Then she sat down on the ground in front of them, legs crossed, and waited.

Dia was the first to respond. "Um, Ruby-chan...what are you doing, exactly?"

Ruby glanced up at her sister, before returning her gaze to the Pokemon in front of her. "I want the Pokemon to choose. I will choose whichever one wants to be with me."

The professor pondered the idea for a moment, "and what if none of them choose you?"

"Then I must not be a very good trainer, correct?" She looked up at him, completely serious, before feeling a nudge on her arm. Ruby turned back and smiled, "I'll take this one."

Professor Kunikida looked on for a moment, then simply chuckled in response. "Very well, Treecko will be your first Pokemon. Would you like to give her a name?"

Ruby looked down at the Treecko, receiving a nod in response. "Sure, her name will be...Emi-chan!"

"Awww!" Hanamaru gushed. "That's a cute name!"

The professor just nodded in response. "Alright, Emi it is. Now, your sister has gone through the trouble of getting you a trainer 'starting kit' of sorts," he added, gesturing towards Dia.

"Aw," Ruby beamed, "you shouldn't have-"

"-but I did anyway," she interjected. "Now in this bag, I have some Poke Balls, Potions, Repels, Paralyz Heals, Burn Heals, Awakenings, Antidotes, Ice Heals, and a Town Map."

Of course, the bag was a bright pink, much like most of Ruby's wardrobe. Other than that, the only thing that stood out was the loop it had for the user to hook up to 6 Poke Balls to. "It's adorable!" Ruby exclaimed. "Thanks, onee-chan!"

Ruby went up to hug Dia, but was stopped by someone tapping her shoulder. "I have one last thing to hand to you Miss Kurosawa," Professor Kunikida said, reaching into his briefcase again. "Here I have for you a Pokedex, mark III. It should be able to identify any Pokemon you can run into while traveling the Hoenn region."

She reached out to accept it, but Ruby noticed her sister's expression had turned to one of confusion. "Um, was this part of the deal Dia had with the League too?"

A sheepish grin popped up on the man's face. "Well, not really, but we did just get a shipment in yesterday, so I figured I could give you one of them."

While still skeptical, she wasn't about to turn down his offer. "Well thanks Professor," she replied, accepting the device.

Dia then pulled out her own map. "Alright Ruby-chan, in order to be registered to compete in Pokemon Contests, you'll just need to register at any contest venue. The closest one I can think of is in Slateport, but that's still not exactly easy to get to on foot."

"Hm, I see," Ruby responded, squinting at the map. "Yeah, that'd take a while to get to, and I'd have to go through that cave between Rustboro and Verdanturf."

"You could also just take a boat there from near Petalburg, zura," Hanamaru pointed out. "I actually have a friend there who'd be willing to take us there."

Dia arched an eyebrow in response. "Are you talking about that one girl in the fisherman's shack?" She got a nod in response. "I thought she never went outside? All I've heard about her is gossip in town though, so I could be wrong."

Hanamaru shook her head at that. "She's not shy, she just likes being out during the night more. When Papa went to study the Petalburg Woods, he left me at her place. We'd read old sailor's tales that her family had in their collection, and she said that she'd be willing to take me on trips when she learned how to sail, which I think happened a few months ago."

"And what about Ruby? This girl doesn't know my sister like she knows you," Dia pointed out.

"Well I could always vouch for her zura!" Hanamaru replied, before her grin changed into a smirk. "On one condition, that is."

"Oh?" Dia inquired, as Ruby looked on, having no idea what Hanamaru was getting at. "And just what is this 'condition' of yours?"

"Well that's simple," Hanamaru answered, "I would like the honor of being Ruby-chan's first opponent!"

While Ruby nearly leapt in shock at this, Dia seemed to be expecting this. "My sister is going into contests Hanamaru-san, needless battles like this are a big buu-buu desu wa!" she exclaimed, pointing her finger at the young brunette, who merely chuckled.

"Well that's fine," Hanamaru acknowledged, "if you're alright with taking an extra month or two getting to Slateport, zura!"

"How dare you hold something like that-"

"It's alright, Onee-chan," Ruby interrupted, "after all, it's her choice whether or not I can go with her."

"Ruby-chan, please, I can arrange for a ride if you need one," Dia offered. "I'm sure the leader over at Mauville would be willing to help you out."

"Well that kind of defeats the purpose of a Pokemon journey, doesn't it?" Ruby inquired. "I mean, you're supposed to be exploring the world. What's the point if people just drive me everywhere?"

"But-"

"Besides," she continued, "it seems like Emi is interested in battling Hanamaru-chan." Indeed, the Treecko had snuck up to Hanamaru while they'd been talking, and had begun trying to swipe at her Poke Ball. "I'm sure they're friends from hanging out in the lab together. It makes sense that Emi is excited to fight her."

"You'd be right on that inference Miss Kurosawa," Professor Kunikida replied. "Your Treecko there has been at the lab for about three months or so, and she was always pretty close to Hanamaru. If Hanamaru didn't already have a starter I'm sure they would have stuck together."

Dia sighed. "Alright, fine. Just throw Ruby-chan straight into the fire why don't you," she said, which Ruby responded to with a pout.

"Gee, glad to see you have faith in me, Onee-chan," she quipped. "Alright Hanamaru-chan, you have a deal. I'll give this my Rubesty!" Ruby declared, holding her arms so her head was in between, perpendicular to the ground, the trademark Ruby pose.

Hanamaru began hopping for joy at the confirmation. "That's great, zura! Don't worry Dia-chan, she doesn't have to beat me," she clarified, looking over at the clearly peeved sister, "I just wanted to see how she battles."

* * *

The party had moved to one of the training halls the laboratory had specifically for battling. Professor Kunikida was in the stands, while Dia was to officiate the match. Ruby peered over at Hanamaru from across the battlefield, which looked so much bigger than it did on TV. How was she expected to keep track of such a large area?

Dia stepped into the middle of the field. "Alright you two! I will be the referee for this match! I swear, on my honor as a gym leader, not to show favoritism in the officiating of this match! The battle will end when the first Pokemon is KO'ed! Any signs of cheating, dirty play, or otherwise will result in the match being called off immediately!" Ruby tried to maintain a serious look as Dia glanced at her, then over to Hanamaru. "Am I clear?"

When both sides nodded, Dia raised her right arm with the flag in it. "Alright, this battle is now underway!" She swung it down before backing up to the sidelines.

"Alright Emi! Go and do your Rubesty!" Emi dashed onto the field at her command. Ruby clenched her fists as she waited for Hanamaru to send out her Pokemon.

"Come on out, Noppo-chan!" The Poke Ball opened with a bright red light, which quickly cleared, revealing a Torchic with a small yellow bow on its head.

While Ruby was slightly curious as to why the girl would name a Pokemon after a snack, she was more annoyed because of _course_ her first battle would be at a type disadvantage. "Round One, begin!" she heard Dia cry out.

"Alright Noppo-chan, use Scratch, zura!"

Ruby had to push down the feelings of panic that cropped up, she needed to make sure Emi-chan didn't get hurt. "Emi-chan, use Pound!" The Treecko's tail began to glow as the attack charged up. Ruby clenched her fists in anticipation, only to cry out as Hanamaru's Pokemon leaped over the swing.

"Now Noppo-chan!" With a high-pitched battle cry, the Torchic landed a hit on Emi, sending her back about ten feet with a few scrapes visible.

"Emi-chan! Are you okay?" Ruby asked. The Treecko looked back, giving her a thumbs up in response. "Alright then, Emi-chan, use Pound again!"

"Noppo-chan, dodge it again!" The Torchic once again leaped over the attack with ease, although Emi was able to dodge the counterattack this time. Ruby knew that she couldn't win if the opponent just kept dodging her attacks. She had to think of something else in order to land a hit.

"Noppo-chan, go on the offensive!" Well at least Hanamaru seemed excited, Ruby mused. She looked at the Pokedex Professor Kunikida had given her, reading the bio for her Treecko.

Treecko, the Wood Gecko Pokemon: It quickly scales even vertical walls. It senses humidity with its tail to predict the next day's weather.

As the Torchic rushed forward with her claws beginning to glow, Ruby got an idea.

"Emi-chan, use Pound!" Ruby smiled as she heard Hanamaru give her orders. As the Torchic leapt into the air, she gave her second command. "Emi-chan, swing down!" The Treecko listened, swinging her tail straight down. "Go up!"

As Hanamaru realized what the plan was, Emi rocketed into the air, knocking Noppo off-balance. Ruby then began part two of her plan, "now cling to the ceiling!" Emi reacted appropriately, promptly swinging so that her feet stuck to the ceiling.

Hanamaru watched as her Torchic fell face-first onto the field, relaxing when it got up quickly. "Alright, you got a hit in Ruby-chan, and I see what your plan is. Not too shabby, considering this is your first time battling. However, you should know that your Treecko can't walk on the ceiling like you might have thought."

Ruby tilted her head in confusion briefly. "Really?"

"Yup, zura! You see, Treeckos are able to stick to almost any surface using small hooks in their feet." Hanamaru explained. "However! They do not have these hooks in their hands, so this ability only allows them to move on walls, not ceilings, since gravity makes it hard for them to stay correctly oriented and keeps them from steadying themselves with their hands and tail."

"I suppose that makes sense," Ruby conceded. So now she had a Treecko stuck to the ceiling, that couldn't move _on_ said ceiling, and would eventually tire out, crashing onto the battlefield from above. That might be a problem. "Okay then, Emi-chan! Use Leer!"

Emi listened and Ruby could see her Treecko's eyes begin to glow. Noppo shuddered, but otherwise didn't react. "Sheesh, zura. That move's pretty lame, I've seen stronger glares from my own mother," Hanamaru quipped. "Let's just end this fight. Noppo-chan, use Ember!"

"Stupid type-effective moves," she grumbled. Ruby had to think of something quick, or this fight would basically be over. "Emi-chan, dodge it, please!"

The Treecko dropped down, only to fall straight into the opponent's flames as she watched in horror. "Emi-chan!" Ruby cried, as she ran to catch Emi before she hit the ground.

"Ruby's Pokemon has been knocked out!" Dia shouted. "Hanamaru-san is the winner!"

* * *

Now back in the lab, Ruby watched from behind the glass as her Pokemon was being treated by the healing machines Professor Kunikida used on a daily basis. She didn't really understand how the machines worked, as all she really saw was some flashing bulbs on a big chunk of steel. Of course, right now that wasn't her main concern. Rather, she was just hoping Emi was okay after that fall she took. Her pondering was interrupted by a hand on her shoulder. Resisting the urge to jump yet again, she looked over to see her big sister. "S-sorry, Onee-chan, I was just thinking about things."

"I sure hope you aren't second-guessing yourself Ruby-chan."

This time Ruby actually jumped. "W-what?! Um, I might be doing that. J-just a bit, you know?"

Dia seemed to ponder this for a moment. "What's bothering you Ruby-chan? Is it that you lost," she said, before looking over at Ruby again, "or are you upset that Emi was hurt? Knowing you, it's probably the latter."

"E-eh? Um, yeah, I suppose you're right," Ruby sheepishly admitted, "I feel like it's my fault she got hurt, as dumb as it might sound."

"Buu buu desu wa!" Dia chided. "Your Pokemon wanted to battle anyway. If anything, I'm sure Emi's glad you let her fight, even when I was against it at first."

"Really?" It sounded a bit weird, but then Ruby remembered how Emi had snuck up to Hanamaru during the exchange. She supposed that made at least some sense.

"Of course, zura!" Speaking of Hanamaru, she practically flung open the doors. "Most Pokemon love battling their friends! Think of it as you would one of your favorite hobbies, like playing a sport or a video game! You might lose, but it's still a lot of fun for everyone involved!"

Ruby thought it over for a moment. "Hm, I suppose that makes sense, in a weird sort of way."

"Besides," Hanamaru added, "it's not like you were bad out there anyway! You had some good ideas, you just couldn't put it together out there. It's nothing you can't improve with some experience," she pointed out, before startling Ruby with a hearty pat on the back. "We'll set off tomorrow to begin your journey! We'll head to Oldale Town, then Petalburg, at which point we're practically there! Should be on that boat in about a week or so, zura!"


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes: I forgot to put this in Chapter One, but shout-out to Apop and Shiny Oji-san for proofreading this for me!

* * *

"A sleepover?"

Hanamaru nodded her head in excitement. "Yup! It will give me a chance to get to know you better, zura! If we're going to be together on the road for a week or two, it will get awkward if we don't know what the other likes!"

Ruby peered down from her bed, Jigglypuff plush clutched in her arms, over to where Hanamaru was resting on the Snorlax beanbag, in the corner of the room. "I suppose that makes sense, but I don't exactly have a sleeping bag ready to go," she trailed off.

"That's no good," Hanamaru lectured, shaking a finger at Ruby. "You should definitely have a sleeping bag if you're going to be exploring the Hoenn region. You can't always rely on finding a Pokemon Center to get your sleep, and hotels can get really expensive if you constantly are relying on them."

Ruby thought it over for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"We can find you a sleeping bag at the convenience store a few blocks down," Hanamaru pointed out, "they aren't too expensive, but you'll want to make sure it's a decent quality, since it will get used a lot."

"Sounds like a lot of fun!" Ruby exclaimed. "I haven't done a sleepover since I was like, ten!"

"Ruby," Hanamaru almost sang, dragging the syllables out. "You do know sleepovers with your sister don't count, right?"

"Um, alright," Ruby admitted, playing with one of her pigtails, "maybe I haven't done a real sleepover before..."

* * *

"Okay, let's check off our supplies you'll need for tonight," Dia said, looking down at her checklist, "sleeping bag, check! Two sets of sleepwear, check! Toothbrush and toothpaste, check! Variety of healthy snacks, check! A-"

"Knock it off, Dia-san," Hanamaru scolded, "if you can't handle your sister going across the street for one night, how are you going to handle her leaving for Slateport tomorrow? For that matter, how did you survive going over a year in an entirely different region than your sister?"

"Hey!" Dia's look was a mixture of offended and embarassed. "I'll have you know I am entirely sure that my sister can hold her own out there!" she huffed.

Ruby peeked out from behind her backpack, which Dia had shoved into her arms rather haphazardly. "I appreciate the help, Onee-chan, but I think I'll be okay from here." She put the bag down before going up and giving Dia a hug from behind. "If I promise to come and say goodbye tomorrow morning before I head off, will that make you feel any better?"

"...maybe." Dia grumbled. "It's just hard to finally see you after all this time, only for you to just go away again, you know?" She turned around, and mussed Ruby's hair up before straightening it back out. "Can you at least call me when you get to Oldale? Just to ease these silly worries of mine?"

"Awww, _fine_." Ruby replied, faking a pout for a moment before smiling again. "If I _have_ to."

* * *

"Wow, Hanamaru-chan, I didn't know your bedroom was above the Pokemon Lab," Ruby commented, absentmindedly gazing around the place, which was a lot bigger than she'd expected for a teenage girl's bedroom. Hanamaru's room might have been almost half the size of the battlefield she'd been on earlier, and that wasn't even including the closet or bathroom connected to it.

"Well of course it is, zura!" Hanamaru chirped. "It's easier to do your lab work when you don't have to go back and forth across town everyday."

"Yeah, that is pretty convenient, I'd imagine," Ruby conceded, "but I'd worry that you'd get restless just staying in the lab all day, every day."

"Ha!" Hanamaru snorted, almost choking on the chips she'd brought up with them. "That's a good one! I suppose you don't know my dad all that well, do you?"

Ruby glanced at the celery sticks her sister had packed, before reaching past them for the chip bowl. "Not really, outside of what he said to me today. He seems nice though."

"Well he's definitely not the kind of guy to stay inside on a regular basis," Hanamaru explained. "Dad is only in the lab about one week each month, if that. The rest of the time, he's out exploring in the forest or visiting other towns and talking to the locals. Hands-on research, you know?"

"Oh yeah, you mentioned your father explored the Petalburg Woods earlier today, right?" Ruby recalled. "Does he go out there all by himself? What if something were to happen to him?"

Hanamaru waved off her concerns. "Nah, you don't need to worry about the dork. He has an assistant on speed dial in case of emergencies, with said 'emergencies' happening like, once or twice a week."

"Heh," Ruby sheepishly chuckled, "I see. I'm glad he at least knows his own limits, I suppose."

* * *

"Um, Hanamaru-chan?" Ruby asked.

Hanamaru looked up from what she was doing. "What?"

"I understand that Pokemon are, like, supposed to help us on our adventure," Ruby started.

"Yes, and?" Hanamaru asked, totally lost on what Ruby was getting at.

"Don't you think using your Torchic to roast marshmallows is a tad lazy?" Ruby deadpanned.

Indeed, Hanamaru was doing just that, holding the treats on a metal rod in front of Noppo. "Not really. Since Noppo-chan's flames can easily reach really high temperatures, it doesn't take much effort for her to just toast them. She doesn't mind at all!"

"Well alright, I guess you'd be a better judge of that than me," Ruby conceded. "It's still a bit strange to watch."

"Eh, that's understandable," Hanamaru acknowledged, shrugging in response, "You're from the big city, right?" Getting a nod in response from Ruby, she continued on, "I imagine most of the Pokemon there either stayed away from you, or they were kept in their Poke Balls for most of the time, zura."

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Ruby replied, "most of the Pokemon you'd see on the streets were the smaller, less volatile ones. You know, like Pidgey, Rattata, Jigglypuff, and so on. The only exception to that really was the stupid infestation of Grimer and Muk the city had to deal with. I knew a couple of families that had to move out because they couldn't handle the city's air anymore, which was pretty unfortunate."

"Yikes," Hanamaru responded, "that doesn't sound too pleasant. We have some Grimer and Muk in the Hoenn region, but they're all up near the volcano, where the air isn't exactly expected to be a fresh spring breeze."

"Good," Ruby huffed, "they can stay up there and never come down. Never want to see another Grimer in my life."

* * *

"I can't believe you still need a nightlight Ruby-chan," Hanamaru teased. "It's not even a cute one, unless you somehow consider Voltorb 'cute'."

"Hmph!" Ruby retorted. "Shows what you know. Voltorbs are round, and probably really squishy if you ever held one."

Hanamaru just shook her head. "Not like you'd really get a chance. Even if they didn't just shock you on contact, they can explode from as little as a bump in the road, so I wouldn't exactly want one near me."

At that Ruby just gave a flat stare. "How many times have they blown up on your dad?"

Pondering the question for a moment, Hanamaru responded, "probably a few dozen times. He forgets to keep his distance, even with my warnings. Luckily I keep a first aid kit for when that happens. He's also learned to wear protection so his eardrums don't rupture, which isn't enough in my opinion, but at least it's progress."

* * *

Ruby was used to sleeping with loud noises. Growing up next to a highway helps with that. However, usually those noises were muffled because they were outside her house. These noises, on the other hand, were coming from the bed right next to her. It figured that Hanamaru snored in her sleep, when they were going to be traveling together for the next few weeks. At least it wasn't sleep talking, Ruby figured. The girl said 'zura' enough times when she was awake, no need to add any more to that counter. Lying awake, in the unfamiliar sensation of being wrapped by her sleeping bag instead of her warm bed, which would soon be the norm, Ruby's mind drifted back to the battle she'd had earlier in the day. While the request had come out of the blue, and she had _definitely_ been at a disadvantage during that fight, Ruby still found it enjoyable to remember. This was strange, considering she had lost, and rather easily at that, only landing one hit the entire fight. However, the first thing that came back to her wasn't the sting of how it had felt to lose. Rather, it was the adrenaline rush she had received, the power at her fingertips as she'd attempted to outthink her friend. Where she'd expected to be crying that her new friend Emi had gotten hurt, instead she was thinking of ideas should they fight again. Which was weird, considering she wasn't here for the battles. It wasn't like this was how her contests would work out. It'd probably be nothing like what she'd experienced today. Regardless, Ruby figured she probably wouldn't come to any conclusions on the issue tonight, and she turned her focus to ignoring the snores of the other girl in the room.

* * *

Hanamaru woke up first, and woke up Ruby by shaking her sleeping bag. After throwing a few pillows at Hanamaru and faking a pout at being woken up so early in the morning, Ruby remembered what today was, and any sleepiness remaining instantly vanished, replaced with almost overwhelming anticipation. She quickly packed up her things, before heading back home for her final goodbyes.

After being away from her older sister for over a year, Ruby had almost missed having Dia be overprotective of her. That being said, she'd remembered how much Dia could overdo it when Ruby had been preparing for the sleepover. Now that she was about to leave, Ruby was rather glad that this would be the last bit of doting she'd get for a while. "Onee-chan, you've been pinching my cheeks for like two minutes now. Can you please let go of me?"

Dia grumbled for a moment, before reluctantly letting her go. "Fine, but you know I'm going to miss you, right?" she pointed out.

"Of course Onee-chan!" Ruby replied. "I'll always know how much you care for me! No need to question that, teehee!"

"Now, now Ruby-chan," Mrs. Kurosawa chided, "you know your sister is just nervous. She went through all this trouble to pack your stuff for you, I think you'll be fine with giving her a hug."

Ruby grinned at that, "yeah Mom, I know. I'm just a bit excited. Can you really blame me? I think anyone would be jumping out of their seat in my position." She fiddled with the Swablu strap on her backpack. "Besides, the sooner Hanamaru and I take off, the more likely it is we'll find a Pokemon Center before nightfall."

"I suppose you have a point," Dia acknowledged. "Still, please call Mom or me when you get the chance. Just tell the gym you're the leader's sister and they'll put you through to me."

"Alright Onee-chan, I promise, okay?" Ruby agreed. "I'll call you both when I get to the first Pokemon Center."

* * *

The first feeling Ruby had after she left Littleroot Town was excitement, because she was stepping into the unknown. The open wilderness was finally hers to explore, after being stuck in the city her whole life. Literally miles of adventure and mystery awaited her. The second feeling Ruby had was boredom, because as it turned out, the open wilderness likes to have wide expanses filled with absolutely nothing. Luckily she wasn't by herself anymore. Emi-chan was sitting on Ruby's head, and Hanamaru was in front of them with her Torchic, leading the way.

They'd been going for about an hour when Hanamaru decided to break for lunch. Ruby wasn't sure if it was actually lunchtime yet, or if Hanamaru was just hungry, but she was ok with stopping either way. Luckily for both of them, Hanamaru actually was a decent cook, and in the span of thirty minutes she had both a stew for her and Ruby, along with a decent berry salad for Emi and Noppo, along with Hanamaru's Lotad, Maria. Ruby initially mistook her for a regular lily pad, which she supposed was the point.

Lotad, the Water Weed Pokemon: This Pokémon lives in ponds with clean water. It is known to ferry small Pokémon across ponds by carrying them on the broad leaf on its head.

Giving a look to Maria, Ruby didn't think it had the appendages to swim all that well, so she guessed that it only could float using the leaf to float.

"You know Ruby, your sister gave you some Poke Balls in that bag of yours didn't she?" Hanamaru asked Ruby shortly after the meals were served.

"Um, yeah," Ruby answered, "I think she did. Why do you ask?" She added, glancing down at Emi, who was rather leisurely munching away.

"Well in that case I should probably teach you how to catch new Pokemon," Hanamaru pointed out. "You can't exactly win contests with just Emi-chan. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're required to use a different Pokemon for the second round, so I don't think you really have a choice in the matter."

"I mean, I guess you have a point," Ruby replied, "but I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of catching Pokemon against their will. If they want to be on my team, that's one thing, but I don't want to have a Pokemon hate me like that," she finished, absentmindedly stirring her stew.

"I mean, it's not like you _have_ to catch them like that," Hanamaru argued, "some Pokemon just want to battle you first so they can see you're a strong trainer. Others might just join your team if they bond with you enough. It just depends on the Pokemon, zura."

"Fair enough," Ruby reluctantly agreed, "although I doubt too many Pokemon are eager to join some random new trainer, haha."

Hanamaru sighed. "Ruby-chan, you really need to work on your self-esteem. It's not like you're a slave-driver of a trainer. If anything, you'll probably be the opposite, and totally spoil them, which is kind of fitting, considering you're going to be showing them off in contests."

* * *

"Alright Emi-chan, we need to practice for our first contest," Ruby asserted, trying her best to sound like she actually knew what she was doing, and not someone who just got her first Pokemon a day ago. "Although you only know Pound, Leer, and Absorb so far, which isn't really that much variety..." she trailed off, trying not to make Emi feel bad. It just wasn't much to be creative with.

"You could always work on outfits," Hanamaru suggested, "since that doesn't really require any training. Just takes time, I'd guess."

"Nah," Ruby declined, "I can do that when we're stopped at Pokemon Centers. However, we should take advantage of being outside to do some training."

"Alright Ruby-chan, I'll go get my bag and we can go find a place to train," Hanamaru agreed.

"Um, Hanamaru-chan?" Ruby hesitantly asked "Is your bag supposed to be moving?"

Before Hanamaru could respond, something leaped out of the bag. Ruby identified it as a weird striped fur ball of sorts, before checking it with the Pokedex.

Zigzagoon, the Tiny Raccoon Pokemon: Zigzagoon restlessly wanders everywhere at all times. This Pokémon does so because it is very curious. It becomes interested in anything that it happens to see.

Looking closer at the Pokemon, a Zigzagoon apparently, Ruby noticed a bag of chips held in its mouth. "They seem to be interested in your snacks, Hanamaru-chan."

"Zura!" Hanamaru cried out. "That's not nice!" She slowly crept up to the Zigzagoon. "Hello there pal, could you please be nice and give me my food back?"

Hanamaru got within about 10 feet before the wild Pokemon began backing up. That was when Hanamaru tried to dive for her chip bag. The Zigzagoon easily dodged the brunette as she skidded where it once was, before bolting off towards the nearby trees. Ruby wasn't sure exactly if she was supposed to intervene, but Hanamaru would not be deterred. "Maria-chan, use Growl!" The Lotad looked up from her meal, before beginning to pursue the thief.

Ruby had to cover her ears as a high-pitched whine was emitted from Hanamaru's Pokemon, which could be seen by a red shockwave that covered the surrounding area. The Zigzagoon dropped its catch, forced to stop by the sudden irritation to its senses. Now irritated, it turned towards Maria, snack forgotten for now, and began charging towards her, trailing a bright white. The attack scored a direct hit, and Maria was forced back a fair distance. However, she just shrugged off the blow it seemed.

"Ha!" Hanamaru exclaimed. "Growl lowers a foe's attack, so that Zigzagoon's Tackle attack didn't deal as much damage as it should have otherwise!" She pointed at the snack thief once more. "Maria-chan, use Absorb!"

As the Lotad let out another cry, the Zigzagoon suddenly fell down on one knee, glowing a dull green in color. However, before Hanamaru could call the decisive blow, it fled into the trees, forgetting the chips entirely. Hanamaru waited for a moment, before she went up to grab her snack. Going back to check on her bag, she let out a groan. "Ugh, the inside of the bag's a total mess now!"

"Yikes," Ruby replied, "that's not good. It's not really surprising though, considering that the Zigzagoon had what looked like jelly on its ear. When I saw that, I kind of guessed your bag wasn't really going to be squeaky clean."

Hanamaru sighed. "Well, I guess I'll need to get it cleaned when we get to Oldale. Not too much I can do right now."

* * *

After that particular incident, Hanamaru was somewhat moody the rest of the afternoon, Ruby noticed. She supposed that was somewhat understandable, since half of their food had been eaten or rendered inedible in one fell swoop. Even so, it made it a lot harder for Ruby to start a conversation with the normally upbeat girl. This was a problem, considering how hard it was for Ruby to normally talk in the first place. This made Ruby all the more appreciative of them stopping for the night, even if they weren't able to find a Pokemon Center before the sky went dark.

Even so, that did not make it any easier for Ruby to set up a tent, since this was her first time doing so. "Um, Hanamaru-chan, I could use a little help here!" She asked, struggling the poles as if they were possessed by snakes.

Hanamaru looked over at Ruby's plight and sighed as the poor girl struggled. "Alright, I'll be over there in just a mo-"

She was interrupted as she was suddenly knocked over, luckily steadying herself before she fell into the rocks surrounding the impromptu fire pit they'd constructed earlier in the night. Turning around, Ruby saw Hanamaru's eyes widen. "Hey! It's you again!"

Looking closely, Ruby could see that it was indeed the Zigzagoon from earlier, especially since it still had the jelly on one of its ears. "Hanamaru-chan, please calm down. Maybe if you don't make it angry, everything will be alright?"

Hanamaru shook her head at that. "Not a chance! Even if that little trouble maker isn't upset, I still am!" She put one hand on her Poke Balls when the Zigzagoon bolted once more, this time heading towards Ruby.

Caught off-guard, Ruby let out a cry as it hit her with a full-power Tackle attack, ending up lying on top of the bungled mess that was her tent. Gingerly getting up, Ruby rubbed the back of her head, which had collided with one of the poles. The Zigzagoon seemed to tense up at this, and let out a Growl attack, forcing Ruby back to her knees as she covered her ears.

This did not help Hanamaru's anger at all. "Alright, you're going down!"

"No need to do that, Hanamaru-chan," Ruby interjected, catching her friend off-guard. "I think I know why it's acting all aggressive."

She began to walk towards the Zigzagoon, keeping her hands up to avoid any misinterpretations. It did not take to this too well, letting out another Growl attack. Ruby cringed, but she didn't slow down this time, continuing forward until the wild Pokemon was right in front of her. She then kneeled down and began to pet it, getting what sounded like a purr in response. "Hello there. My name is Ruby, Ruby Kurosawa. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want you to please stay still while I check on something?"

It stared at her for a moment, before smiling. "Alright," Ruby reassured, "now I promise I'll try to be gentle while doing this." She then pulled up some of the fur on its head before her face changed to a frown. "That's not what I thought it was," she muttered. "Hanamaru-chan, do you happen to have a pair of scissors on you?"

Somewhat confused, Hanamaru rummaged through her bag for a moment or two before pulling out a pair. "Um, yeah? What do you need them for?"

"It looks like someone put a tracking device on this Zigzagoon," Ruby answered, "it's wrapped around his head, and it looks to be on pretty tight, enough to be painful, so I think we'll need to cut it off."

* * *

It had taken a few minutes before the wild Pokemon was calm enough for Hanamaru to safely approach it, but once she was able to take a look, the device came off without much trouble. After that, like Ruby had predicted, the Zigzagoon was much calmer as a result, falling asleep rather quickly in Ruby's lap. She was cleaning with a wet cloth from her bag when Hanamaru came back. "Alright, zura, I disposed of the tracker so that no one else should have trouble with it."

"How'd you do that?" Ruby asked.

"Pretty easily," Hanamaru replied, "I just had Noppo-chan burn them until it was just a bunch of ash. Then it's just blown away, basically harmless now."

"Ah, that's good to hear," Ruby acknowledged, relieved, "although I'm still a bit sad that it was on so tight in the first place. Couldn't they have just put some sort of tag on its tail? That would have been a lot less painful."

"Yeah," Hanamaru agreed, "I don't know why in the world someone would choose to do it like that. Could have also been done more efficiently by just giving it an actual headband. Would have been easier to identify too. That reminds me," she said, looking over at Ruby. "How _did_ you know that there was a tracking device on the Zigzagoon? I couldn't see it at all until you pulled up its fur."

"Oh, that?" Ruby asked. "When I got hit with that Tackle attack, I felt something sticking out of its fur. I had assumed it was just something that had gotten stuck, caught on its fur, I didn't know it was a tracker until I looked."

Hanamaru seemed to ponder the answer for a moment. "So what were you going to do if it started attacking you again?"

"Eh?" Ruby replied, caught off-guard. "Well, I didn't really have a plan for that," she answered somewhat sheepishly.

The brunette sighed at this response. "That's what I thought. You need to be more careful, Ruby-chan. There are a lot more dangerous Pokemon out there. You could get seriously hurt if you tried this with them," Hanamaru lectured.

"Alright," Ruby conceded, "I'll keep that in mind, okay?" When Hanamaru seemed to accept this answer, she continued, "so what do we do with it now?"

"Hmm," Hanamaru thought about it for a moment, "the poor guy's obviously tired. Probably couldn't get much sleep with that device almost needling its head constantly. It can sleep with one of us tonight, then we see how it feels and go from there."

* * *

Ruby's sleeping bag was more comfortable than it was the night before. It wasn't any warmer than the night before. If anything, the bag was cold from lying on the ground. It wasn't any quieter than the night before, Hanamaru's snoring could be heard through both of their tents loud and clear.

The main difference this time was Ruby wasn't sleeping alone. This time, she had a little ball of fluff in her arms, and her starter Pokemon Emi resting on her head. Ruby slept well tonight, dreaming sweet dreams of friendship and other good times.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Today we shall make progress! At least, I hope so.

* * *

Ruby woke up a lot more peacefully than she had the previous day. This might have been at least partially due to the fact that she woke up before Hanamaru this time. The bundle of fur by Ruby's side was also nice to have, somewhat reminding her of the plushies she kept at home. She was tempted to wake up Hanamaru with a splash of water to the face or something, but Ruby was too nice for that. Instead she went out with Emi to go look for some sticks to use for the fire pit when Hanamaru cooked breakfast.

When she got back, Ruby ended up a bit disappointed, since Hanamaru had just gotten out some dry cereal instead of a full meal, but at least it was something. It also helped that Hanamaru said they should be able to reach Oldale Town later today, which would mean a bit of a rest. After they finished breakfast, the girls began walking again, with the Zigzagoon hiding in Ruby's bag, since Hanamaru did not want it anywhere near her bag again, which was understandable.

* * *

After an hour or so, Ruby and Hanamaru stopped to do some training, much like they had planned to do yesterday before they had been interrupted. Hanamaru had chosen to use her Lotad to help with training, so Ruby would not be fighting at a disadvantage like she had back at the lab. "Okay!" Hanamaru exclaimed. "Today we're going to work on dodging attacks! None of Maria's moves really will do much damage to Emi-chan, should they connect, but I want you to focus on not getting hit in the first place!"

"Okay!" Ruby agreed. "Let's do our Rubesty, Emi-chan!" Emi merely nodded, and got into position.

"Alright, zura! Maria-chan, use Astonish!" Hanamaru commanded. The Lotad let out a shriek, red waves emitting from her in a rhythmic pattern.

Ruby had not been expecting an area move right off the bat, and as a result, her Treecko took the attack head-on, being pushed back at a steady pace. Luckily, Hanamaru had been correct, and Emi shrugged it off. However, this wasn't the point of the exercise, and Hanamaru had her Lotad use it again. This time, Ruby was a bit more prepared for the attack. "Emi-chan, leap towards Maria-chan and use Pound!"

While Emi did feel the effects of the second Astonish attack, she was able to follow through and execute her attack. "Maria-chan," Hanamaru ordered, "back up and use Absorb!"

Emi was able to land a glancing blow, as Hanamaru's Lotad was not quite fast enough, but the Pound attack still didn't do too much damage. Ruby remembered seeing Hanamaru use Absorb on the Zigzagoon yesterday, and she wasn't sure how her Pokemon was supposed to dodge something when it wasn't clear how the move was supposed to connect. "Emi-chan," Ruby said, figuring that she should at least make sure Emi wasn't a sitting duck, "use Absorb too!"

Ruby hoped she'd get something out of this exchange either way. The two ways this could play out were either her Treecko negated any damage the Lotad dealt, or Ruby would get to see how Hanamaru dodged the attack, and therefore could learn how it worked. It turned out to be neither option, as while Emi was hit, glowing a dull green color much like she'd seen before, the Lotad was unaffected. It seemed that being hit had disrupted her Treecko's attack, causing it to fail. Ruby began to pout at this, before deciding her next move. "Emi-chan, use Pound again!"

Her Treecko leapt towards Maria, tail glowing once more, when Hanamaru retaliated. "Maria-chan, dodge and use Bubble!" This time Lotad fully avoided Emi's swing, hopping back before she began to blow bubbles, one by one, out of her mouth at a steady pace.

"Is this supposed to be an attack?" Ruby asked, a little confused. Her Pokemon was in the middle of a bubbly field, but it didn't look like the attack had actually hurt.

"That was just the set-up, Ruby-chan!" Hanamaru replied, grinning. "Maria-chan, use Growl!"

This time the cry emitted only a single red shockwave, but when it hit the bubbles, a chain reaction of pops could be heard as it rippled through what had, to Ruby's realization, become a water-type minefield of sorts. "Emi-chan, use Pound to deflect the blasts!"

While it worked the first time, as Emi was able to swat one of the bubbles away with her own mini-chain, Ruby saw that it took too long for Emi to get rid of all of them, since Pound need to be charged from zero each time it was used, which was slower than she would have liked. As a result, her Treecko still ended up getting caught by most of the attack, receiving about five or six separate hits before the attack finally cleared out, leaving her somewhat worse for wear.

"Having a bit of trouble there, Ruby-chan?" Hanamaru teased, sticking her tongue out at her friend. "You can't always just brute force your way out of everything! Maria-chan, use Bubble again!"

Ruby did not want her Pokemon caught in that situation a second time, so she knew she needed to react quickly. "Emi-chan, start dodging to your right!"

Hanamaru looked a bit puzzled at how specific Ruby's command was, but watched as Emi did just that. As the attack continued, Ruby smiled as her plan seemed to be working. The bubbly field was out again, but this time Lotad was in the middle of it. "Emi-chan, leap over the bubbles and use Pound!"

"Maria-chan, use Astonish!" Hanamaru shouted. However, this Astonish attack only lasted one wave before it was forced to stop, as it triggered the chain reaction, with Maria taking the brunt of the attack. While not very effective, the main perk of this for Ruby was that the Lotad was unable to escape, and took the Pound attack at full strength, getting smacked into the ground.

"Yes!" Ruby cheered in response to this. She had probably just landed her first clean hit on one of Hanamaru's Pokemon, actually outmaneuvering her for once.

"Not bad," Hanamaru admitted, "I had shrugged off the idea of Maria-chan getting hit by her own Bubble, since it's very ineffective against a Lotad's type combination. I didn't consider the fact that her movement would still be restricted, regardless of the type matchup. My mistake, I suppose." She pulled out a Potion from her bag and began spraying it on her Lotad. "We'll end it there for now, but you still need to work on dodging attacks however. Not every move can be easily countered, mind you, especially when the moves are stronger than just a bunch of bubbles."

* * *

Shortly after that, Ruby and Hanamaru cleaned up their camp, preparing to set off for Oldale Town again. After only about five minutes however, Ruby's bag began shaking, and she could hear the Zigzagoon yipping up a storm inside. "Geez, what's gotten him so riled up?" Hanamaru asked.

"I'm not sure," Ruby answered, pulling the bag off her back and opening it, only to leap back as the little fur ball hopped out and began running into the trees. "Wait up!" she cried after it, closing her bag shut before giving chase, "you still need to see the Pokemon Center for that scar!"

"Ruby-chan!" Hanamaru shouted, before realizing she wasn't being heard. "That girl is so reckless, zura..." she mumbled before reluctantly running after the both of them.

Ruby called out Emi to follow the Zigzagoon from up above in the trees, but they were quickly falling behind. This was probably due to the fact that they didn't know the area quite as well, along with Ruby not being the most athletic of people. Luckily Ruby had remained focused, because otherwise she probably would have fallen into the lake that was hidden in a clearing somewhere in the woods. Hanamaru caught up to her about five seconds later, teetering over the edge of the water before regaining her balance.

"Geez, Zigzagoon sure are fast," Hanamaru said, trying to catch her breath from an impromptu run. "I think he lost us..."

"No," Ruby replied, "look over there." She pointed across the lake, where she could see a small brown blur in the distance. "He's heading towards...a wooden cabin?"

Hanamaru squinted for a moment. "Hm, even from over here, I can see that the place looks abandoned." True to what the brunette had said, Ruby could see what looked like broken wooden planks on the roof and sides of the building. She was kind of surprised the place hadn't collapsed yet, having been deserted for what looked like years.

"Do you think we should follow it inside?" Ruby asked.

"I wouldn't," Hanamaru answered, "that's probably where the Zigzagoon lives. Might be run-down to us, but to it, there's a roof over its head and relative safety from other Pokemon."

"Well even so," Ruby argued, "weren't we going to bring it in to the Pokemon Center to check out that scar the tracker left on its head? What if it gets infected or something?"

"I suppose you're right, Ruby-chan," Hanamaru agreed, "come on, we'll go inside and scope the place out."

* * *

It took them almost five more minutes just to make their way around the lake, and Hanamaru had tired herself out again by the time they reached the cabin. "Geez, why do we have to move so fast, Ruby-chan?" She said, resting her hands on her knees for a moment. "It's probably asleep in there."

Ruby was about to respond, but they were interrupted by what sounded like barking. "Hanamaru-chan, what was that?"

Hanamaru listened to the noise for a moment. "It sounds angry, whatever it is."

Out of the house, Ruby saw the Zigzagoon running, followed by a bunch of darkly-colored creatures. She pulled out her Pokedex to investigate.

Poochyena, the Bite Pokemon: Poochyena is an omnivore - it will eat anything. A distinguishing feature is how large its fangs are compared to its body. This Pokémon tries to intimidate its foes by making the hair on its tail bristle out.

Looking back up from the Pokedex, Ruby counted five Poochyena in all, and they had the Zigzagoon surrounded. She knew she had to act fast. She looked back to her Treecko. "Emi-chan, use Leer on the group of Poochyena!" Emi's eyes glowed a light blue, and Ruby saw the herd collectively shudder, momentarily forgetting the Zigzagoon in favor of the new challenger. "Hanamaru-chan, I'm going to need your help here!"

"Alright, zura!" Hanamaru replied, throwing her Poke Balls. "Come on out Noppo-chan, Maria-chan!" The Torchic landed next to Emi, while the Lotad landed in the lake. "Noppo-chan, use Ember! Maria-chan, use Astonish!"

Noppo hit two of the Poochyena with her flames, leaving a lingering burn on one of them. Maria's shriek, on the other hand, hit everyone in the area for minimal damage, doing little other than distracting the pack from focusing on Emi. "Emi-chan, use Pound!" Ruby commanded. She landed a direct hit on the burned Poochyena, knocking it into the lake, only to get shoved back onto land by Maria, knocked out cold. While the battle was going on, Hanamaru had retrieved the Zigzagoon, and sprayed a Potion onto the various scrapes and bruises she could find on it.

Ruby covered her ears as the four remaining Poochyena let out a group Howl attack, briefly glowing a dim red color. "Emi-chan, use Absorb!" The Treecko leapt over a Tackle by one of the Poochyena, before she began draining the closest one she could hit. Hanamaru used this opportunity to hit it with an Ember from Noppo, knocking the pup out. Noppo then took a Bite attack on her left wing, crying out before chasing it off with a second Ember.

"Maria-chan, use Bubble!" Hanamaru ordered, annoyed that they'd scored a hit, "Noppo-chan, use Growl!" Ruby knew what was coming, and ordered her Treecko back to avoid the shockwaves. Sure enough, just like in their practice earlier today, the Growl attack set off the bubbles, and when the field was cleared, she saw only one Poochyena still standing.

Then the lone wild Poochyena began to back up, seemingly losing its aggression, before turning tail and running back into the building. "Any idea what the last one's doing Hanamaru-chan?" Ruby asked.

"Um, maybe we scared it off?" Hanamaru guessed, scratching her head. This thought was immediately put to rest when they heard another howl coming from the cabin, this one much louder than the rest. The Zigzagoon ran into the bushes, while Ruby let out a squeal as a much larger Pokemon walked out in front of them, pulling out her Pokedex.

Mightyena, the Bite Pokemon: The evolved form of Poochyena, Mightyena gives obvious signals when it is preparing to attack. It starts to growl deeply and then flattens its body. This Pokémon will bite savagely with its sharply pointed fangs.

"This Pokemon sounds a lot scarier than a Poochyena," Ruby managed to say, trying to keep from trembling in fear. "I don't think we can win this battle."

"Well we have to try!" Hanamaru responded. "First off, we'll need to weaken it so we can actually damage it! Maria-chan, Noppo-chan, use Growl!"

"Um, okay!" Ruby hesitantly agreed. "Emi-chan, use Leer!"

All three attacks went off without a hitch, but the Mightyena seemed unaffected. "Wow, it didn't even flinch!" Hanamaru observed. "Normally being weakened will lower a Pokemon's confidence, but it doesn't seem to care at all!"

Finally bothering to acknowledge its opponents, the Mightyena looked up and let out a screeching Howl, nearly blinding the girls with its red light. "Geez!" Ruby exclaimed. "That Howl seemed much stronger than the one the Poochyena used, which makes sense I guess, but still, yikes!" When the light cleared, Ruby saw what looked to be a dark purplish aura surrounding their foe, and it was very unsettling to look at, almost making Ruby just want to flee. She pulled out her Pokedex to figure out just what she was looking at.

Intimidate: Pokemon with this ability can emit an unsettling aura, with the ability to frighten enemy Pokemon. Pokemon frightened by this ability will typically lose some of their attack power as a result.

Sure enough, when Ruby looked over to her and Hanamaru's Pokemon, they now were practically shaking in their nonexistent boots. "So much for weakening it," she groaned. "Looks like the effects might have just canceled out."

"Hm," Hanamaru replied, "how interesting. Looks like Mightyena's ability changes after evolving from Poochyena. That reminds me, I need to explain abilities to you Ruby."

"Um, Hanamaru," Ruby deadpanned, "I don't think now is exactly the right time," she pointed out, noticing that the Mightyena was starting to move. "Emi-chan, use Absorb!"

The Mightyena finally bothered to respond after it felt the drain sapping its energy, growling before charging towards Emi. "Maria-chan, use Astonish!" Hanamaru commanded, trying to divert attention away from Emi. This didn't work out too well. Mightyena turned towards the Lotad, and let out a piercing cry, which coincided with a bright red funnel that caught Maria in the center. The effect was immediate, as Lotad instantly went back into its Poke Ball. "Wow!" Hanamaru remarked, somewhat fascinated. "So this is what a Roar looks like in battle! Maria-chan won't come out of her Poke Ball now, no matter how I try to open it!"

"Hanamaru-chan!" Ruby called out, starting to get frustrated at how easily Hanamaru was getting distracted. "Again! Not the time for this!"

"Right, right!" Hanamaru acknowledged, "still have to fight, I hear you! Noppo-chan, use Ember!"

The Mightyena diverted from its charge towards Emi, leaping over the flaming projectiles. Ruby could see its jaws glow a pure white color before they clamped down around the Torchic's leg. "Emi-chan!" Ruby ordered, trying to get Noppo free. "Use Pound!"

The Treecko charged up the attack, but it missed due to Mightyena ducking under the swing, before flinging Noppo into Emi's back, sending the both of them crashing to the ground. "Ack!" Hanamaru cried. "I should have anticipated it would use its signature Bite attack! How stupid of me! Noppo-chan, are you okay?!"

The trainers' Pokemon got up slowly, clearly battered, but they were both okay for now at least. The Mightyena wasn't done yet however, already charging towards them. Noppo tried to block it with an Ember attack, but the feral Pokemon just leaped over it again. Fangs glowing once more in anticipation, the Mightyena pounced on the prey that lay vulnerable before it...only to find unfamiliar flesh replacing the feathers that it had expected. The Mightyena opened its eyes to see a surprising sight. Ruby had blocked the attack from connecting, taking the Bite attack directly on her left forearm, much to the surprise of everyone watching, including Hanamaru, who could only gasp in response. When the wild Pokemon opened its mouth, she dropped to the ground, holding her arm, trying to hold back tears. "Please," Ruby begged, "we weren't trying to hurt you! We just wanted to help our friend keep his home. Just please, stop!"

It seemed confused by this response, but nonetheless did not appear aggressive. Hanamaru took this opportunity to run up to Ruby and pull out her first aid kit, recalling her Torchic as well. "Ruby, what were you thinking? You could have been hurt so much worse than this!" Hanamaru scolded. "This arm could have just come clean off! Who knows what would have happened if it hadn't calmed down?!"

"Hehe," Ruby awkwardly responded, deciding to give up on not crying, the tears flowing down her face, "it never wanted to hurt me, Hanamaru-chan. The way it was acting, it seemed to be protecting something important. I think both sides had a misunderstanding."

"Geez, Ruby-chan," Hanamaru groaned, "now I can see why your sister was so worried about you. Less than two days in and you've almost gotten a concussion and an amputation. You do know your Pokemon is the one that's supposed to do the fighting right?" she joked, "You don't need to keep putting yourself out there like this."

Ruby recalled her Treecko, then looked up at the Mightyena, who seemed to be gesturing at them. "Hanamaru-chan, I think it wants us to follow it inside the building."

* * *

Hanamaru initially was skeptical, but eventually relented. After Hanamaru finished wrapping Ruby's newly acquired bandages, they followed the Mightyena as it quietly led them to the second floor of the run-down place. They had to leap over a few gaps in the floorboard, and Ruby almost fell down once or twice, but they eventually found what it wanted them to see. "Zura! What happened here?!"

Lying in the corner of what used to be the master bedroom, going by Ruby's best guess, was a young boy, who couldn't have been older than eight or nine years old. His jet black hair was disheveled, and he had numerous scrapes on his legs and arms. "Oh no," Ruby said, "the poor kid isn't in too good of shape. His clothing is a mess, looks like it's been torn in several places by now."

"Yeah," Hanamaru reluctantly agreed, "he appears to have first-degree burns on his shoulder and chest too. I'll get the first aid kit out again. I sure hope there's the supplies for this in my kit, I've never had to check." Pulling out her backpack, Hanamaru went about trying to help the kid.

Upon Hanamaru attempting to lift his shirt off of him, the boy began to stir, slowly shifting until he opened his eyes and pulled himself upright. "Ugh, morning already?" Then realizing he was not alone, the boy began to panic, "wait, who are you two? What's going on?!"

"Please calm down," Hanamaru said quietly, "we're here to help you."

He squinted at the two girls, the boy's gaze lingering on the bandages on Ruby's arm. "Really?"

"Yep!" Ruby reassured. "You seem to have gotten hurt recently. My friend here, Hanamaru-chan, is good at helping with little things like that." She lifted her arm up. "See? Nothing to worry about!"

With that the boy calmed down somewhat, staying quiet while Hanamaru tended to his injuries. It took about ten minutes or so, but she was able to successfully treat his scrapes, but it was determined that he would need to see a doctor about his burns. Until then, all Hanamaru could do was bandage them up so nothing could get in and possibly make things worse. "Alright!" Hanamaru declared. "That should be good for now!"

The kid inspected his new bandages carefully before looking back at Hanamaru. "Thanks Hamburger-chan!" Ruby giggled as Hanamaru fought to keep from groaning at this. "My name is Riju!"

"Aww," Ruby replied, "that's a cute name!"

"Alright Riju-san," Hanamaru asked, "can you tell me what happened that led to you getting hurt?"

He told them what he could remember, which was surprisingly detailed for one so young. He'd left his house in Oldale Town the previous afternoon to play hide and seek in the nearby ruins. When he'd gone to hide, he'd fallen down one of the pits into the bottom of the ruins. He'd used one of the torches that lined the walls to find his way out, but he'd burned himself a few times in the process, since it was too big for his small hands. By the time he'd gotten out, night had fallen, so he'd gone to sleep right outside the ruins on the grass. When he woke up, he was in the abandoned cabin, with Ruby and Hanamaru, but he had no idea where he was or how he got there.

"Wow," was all Hanamaru could say to that. "That sounds like a terrible day."

"Yeah," Ruby agreed, "I can't imagine how I'd feel if that had happened to me..."

"So I guess the Mightyena found him lying out there last night," Hanamaru guessed, "and then brought him back here so he would be safe. I can't imagine why it would attack us though, since we could have helped him."

Ruby thought the matter over for a moment. "I think I know why!" she exclaimed. "It must be because of Noppo-chan!"

"What do you mean, Ruby-chan?" Hanamaru asked.

"Well here's what I think," Ruby proposed, "the Mightyena didn't know that the boy had gotten burned by the torch earlier in the day. It must have assumed the burns were the work of a Fire-type Pokemon! So when it saw us with your Noppo-chan..."

"...it assumed that we were the ones who had hurt him in the first place!" Hanamaru almost shouted, "That's why it was acting so protective earlier!"

"Yup," Ruby agreed, "like I said, it was a misunderstanding." She then grinned at her friend, "Isn't that right, Hamburger-chan?"

Hanamaru wasn't in the mood. "Shut up, zura."

* * *

After that epiphany, Ruby and Hanamaru managed to persuade the Mightyena that they were going to bring the boy back home. Eager to see his family after a long night, the boy rode on Hanamaru's back as they left the forest. Despite the obvious exertion on her person, Hanamaru didn't complain, seeing as she was the only one who didn't have any bandages on. Luckily, they were fairly close to Oldale Town, arriving there after only about half-an-hour on foot. Listening to the boy describe his house, they were easily able to locate it, given that this town was probably as small as Littleroot.

They rung the doorbell, and it swung open a moment later by a middle-aged woman. She opened her mouth to say something, but she chose to forgo them upon seeing the boy, instead choosing to immediately wrap him in a hug. "Oh Riju! What happened to you?!"

"It's a long story," Hanamaru replied, "he told us about it on our way back here. We found him out in an abandoned cabin in a forest nearby. A wild Mightyena had brought him there to keep him safe after he got hurt exploring the ruins yesterday."

"Yeah," Ruby added, "it was very protective of him. We tried to bandage his injuries, but unfortunately he suffered some burns while trying to get out of the ruins. You'll probably want to get them checked, we don't know if they might be infected."

"Alright," the mother noted, "I'll take him in for a check-up tomorrow morning." Ruby saw her eyes move to the bandages on Ruby's arm. "What about you, miss? I see that you've been hurt as well?"

"Ehe," Ruby responded, "I'll be fine, ma'am. The wild Pokemon were a bit protective of your son. They thought we were going to hurt him at first."

"I see," Riju's mom said, "well hopefully you'll be alright, miss..."

"Ruby," she answered, "Ruby Kurosawa ma'am, and this is my friend Hanamaru Kunikida," she added, pointing to the brunette, who gave a little wave.

"Ok then," the lady reaffirmed, "thank you Miss Kurosawa and Miss Kunikida. I am in your debt."

"Oh, it's no trouble," Ruby reassured, "we just wanted to make sure he got home safely."

"Nonsense!" The Mother insisted. "Who knows where my son would be now if it weren't for you two! Hold on one moment ladies, I'll be right back."

The girls stood out on the doorstep awkwardly for the next minute or so. Ruby felt bad at the idea of receiving anything for doing something that she hoped anyone in her situation would have done, but she didn't want to ditch the woman. She did come back though, hiding her hands behind her back. "Alright ladies, I'd like to give you this for your troubles," she stated, revealing a large egg.

"Oh my!" Hanamaru exclaimed, surprised by this turn of events. "Are you sure about this, zura?"

She nodded in response. "Don't worry Miss Kunikida, my husband is a professional breeder. I'm sure he'll be glad that this egg is going to be raised by a kind soul like you two ladies!"

* * *

After a bit of back and forth, it was clear the woman would not take no for an answer, and the girls reluctantly accepted the egg, carrying it with them to the Oldale Pokemon Center. After depositing their Pokemon under the nurse's care, Ruby's injuries were promptly examined by the Nurse Joy on duty. It took about an hour before she would let Ruby out of the nurse's office, and even then, she was still given a prescription for some antibiotics as a precaution. After that, Ruby headed off to the call center to keep the promise she had made before she left Littleroot. She booted up the little monitor. A young man, around the age of twenty, Ruby guessed, was on the other end. "Petalburg Gym here, how can we help you?"

She instinctively straightened her posture. "Hello sir. My name is Ruby Kurosawa, the sister of your gym leader, can you put me through to her?"

"Oh yeah, sure thing Miss Kurosawa," the man replied.

The screen went dark for a moment, before lighting up with a more familiar face. "Hey, Onee-chan," Ruby started, "I called you like I promised I would."

Dia would have responded, but Ruby could tell she was suspicious. "Ruby-chan, you're hiding your arms behind your back. That's not normal for you, what happened?" Ruby sighed, knowing she shouldn't have tried to hide it, before revealing the bandages. "RUBY! What happened to you? It's only been two days since you left home and you're already hurt!"

"Well," Ruby replied, trying to think of how to word this, "earlier today, we had a run in with a wild Mightyena-"

"What!" Dia interjected. "You're nowhere near ready to fight fully evolved Pokemon yet! What did you think was going to happen?"

"It turned out alright though!" Ruby pointed out, trying to calm down her sister. "We ended up finding a boy who had gotten lost, and we brought him back to his parents!"

Dia went silent for a moment, trying to puzzle out what had happened. "I see, well I'm glad no one was harmed, but it still looks like you put yourself in danger, which is a major buu-buu desu wa!"

"I hear you, Onee-chan," Ruby reassured, "don't worry, I don't intend to do this on a regular basis, hehe."

"You better not!" Dia scolded. "Anyways, should I assume that the egg you're holding was related to today's events?

"Um, yeah," Ruby continued, relaxing a bit as the topic moved away from her injury. "The boy's dad was apparently a professional breeder, and the mom gave us an Egg to show their appreciation. We tried to tell them it wasn't necessary, but she wouldn't take no for an answer."

"I see," Dia responded, "well an Egg isn't too hard to take care of, but you do need to be careful not to drop it of course. Have you decided which one of you are going to raise it?"

"Not yet," Ruby admitted, "if Hanamaru-chan wants it though, she can have it."

Dia sighed. "Ruby, you're the one who got hurt in the events leading up to finding him. Personally, I think you should get to keep it."

"Onee-chan," Ruby teased, "are you sure you're not just a _little_ bit biased?"

"Of course not!" Dia huffed. "You should know better to assume that."

"My bad Onee-chan," Ruby giggled at her sister's serious face, "I won't do it again."

"Okay then," Dia acknowledged, "I'll see you again when you get to Petalburg. Good night Ruby-chan."

"Good night Onee-chan."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Notes: We finally made it to the second town! Probably further than most Pokemon AUs, to be honest, so that's nice. Shout out to Nosoro for helping with this chapter, since Apop was in Japan during this chapter's writing.

* * *

It took Ruby a while before her lingering nerves from her call with Dia were able to go away, but after that she was able to sleep fairly comfortably. This was helped by the fact that she was sleeping in an actual bed this time, and Hanamaru was in a different room, so there was no snoring to keep her up. However, this did not stop Ruby from making a fool of herself, accidentally rolling out of bed early the next morning. "Ugh," Ruby groaned, "morning already? Guess I'm not getting my five more minutes today." Picking herself off of the floor, ignoring the pain emanating from under the bandages on her arm, Ruby dragged her sorry butt to the cafeteria, grabbing a muffin and some berry juice before paying at the register and finding an empty seat in the corner of the room, practically collapsing into it. "Sure am glad they have food that's easy to get," Ruby grumbled, still rather tired, "because I definitely don't want to go outside yet."

It was about ten minutes after that when Ruby saw Hanamaru enter the cafeteria, but unlike Ruby, who was still in her pajamas, Hanamaru was already fully dressed and wide awake. Hanamaru grabbed a bowl of dry cereal before plopping down next to Ruby. "Good morning Ruby-chan, zura!" Getting only a groan in response, Hanamaru continued, "today we'll start off towards Petalburg! We can stay here for the morning, grab something for lunch, then we'll grab our Pokemon from Nurse Joy and start our way through Route 102!"

"Ugh," Ruby responded, "I'm just still so tired, Hanamaru-chan. How can you be so alert when the sun isn't even up yet?"

"That's simple," Hanamaru answered, "we always got up early at the lab to go out and play with the Pokemon in the forest when I was younger! Or at least, I played with them," she corrected, "Papa was probably doing his research stuff. Anyways, because of this routine, I have only slept in like once or twice since I turned ten!"

"I see," Ruby muttered, taking a large bite out of her muffin, "well unlike you, I'm not a morning person."

"Well I guess we'll just have to work on that!" Hanamaru reassured, giving Ruby a hearty pat on the back, which unfortunately caused Ruby to gag on her muffin. "Oops! My bad, Ruby-chan! Let me help you there!"

* * *

After a rather eventful breakfast, Ruby made her way back to the bedroom she'd slept in the night before. She went and got changed out of her pink nightie she'd been wearing into a pair of dark blue shorts, a pink hoodie, and finished off the look with a nice yellow bow on her pigtail. Not both pigtails, just the right one. The asymmetry makes it look cuter, regardless of what Dia says. She also added some pink lollipop doodles to her bandages with some markers from her bag, to accent the outfit.

Ruby thought over what Hanamaru had explained to her during the meal. After the brunette had mentioned things such as abilities and evolutions during their skirmish with the wild Mightyena the day before, Ruby had asked for a more detailed rundown now that they weren't fighting off wild Pokemon. Apparently abilities were a sort of 'crisis mode' for some Pokemon, while for others it was basically an additional method of fighting. Most starter Pokemon abilities leaned towards the 'crisis mode' abilities, but there were a few exceptions. Mightyena's 'Intimidate' ability, on the other hand, was an additional technique to use.

Evolution wasn't as clear cut, and Ruby was still a bit confused as to what it was. She'd heard about them before, but didn't really know what they did, just that it changed a Pokemon's appearance. From what Hanamaru had told her, evolution sounded like an extreme power up of sorts, but mostly natural in how it worked, with a few exceptions. Some Pokemon evolved just by battling, which made sense. Others involved by trading, which made a bit less sense. Then there were a whole bunch of other methods that just absolutely baffled Ruby. Location-based evolutions? Evolutions based on time of day? Stone-based evolutions? Her head hurt just thinking of it. Regardless, Hanamaru had assured Ruby that she wouldn't need to worry about it for a while. Evolutions came from experience, and Hanamaru had told her that she'd be ready when the time came, not that it eased her worries.

Ruby's musings were interrupted by a rustling from her bag, which was a tad strange, since she had just checked it a minute ago when she'd needed the markers for her bandages. Looking around the room, she realized she'd left the window open, so a Pokemon might have snuck into the room while her back was turned. It wasn't like Ruby's hearing was really good, so it wouldn't surprise her if that was what had happened. It was probably a small Pokemon if they could fit in her bag, but that didn't relax her much since she had no Pokemon to fight with at the moment. They were still with Nurse Joy, after all. Slowly, she walked over to her bag and peeked inside.

What she found was just a Zigzagoon, munching on some of her snacks. While irritating, this was not something that she'd have trouble with, thankfully. On an intuition, she slowly parted its fur, revealing a scar on the forehead. "Ah, so it's you again," Ruby said, rather intrigued that it had managed to follow them to the Pokemon Center, "I was wondering where you'd gone after you bolted in the forest yesterday."

The little furball looked up at her, attention focusing on Ruby's new bandages. "Oh, you're wondering about these?" She asked, waving her arm at the Zigzagoon. "Don't worry! It's just a scratch, nothing major!" It seemed calmed by this answer, curling up into a ball in her bag. Ruby sighed. "You're really cute little guy, but this isn't the best time for a nap."

After being ignored for a few minutes, Ruby figured the little guy wasn't moving anytime on his own, so she slowly picked him up, before setting him on the desk next to her bed. She didn't want him away, she just didn't want for him to get hurt if she closed her bag with him in it. Before she left however, a thought occurred to Ruby: what if he didn't keep the scar if he evolved out of a Zigzagoon? Then she wouldn't be able to identify him anymore! Ruby opened her bag once more, taking out a pink bow and tying it to his left ear. "There you go," she whispered, "that way I can make sure you don't forget you're special."

* * *

After replenishing her previously-depleted snack supply, Ruby went to Nurse Joy to pick up her Pokemon. "Good morning Miss Kurosawa," the Nurse greeted her, "could you please follow me back into my office for a moment?" Listening to the more experienced woman, Ruby followed the woman back through the halls of the Pokemon Center. "You see, you brought in that Pokemon Egg last night," Joy started as they walked, "and we've had an unfortunate number of accidents involving trainers dropping or otherwise breaking eggs before they're ready to hatch." She opened her office door, revealing Ruby's egg inside some sort of containment vessel.

"Is that what this is for?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly!" Joy responded. "This is a licensed Pokemon Egg Incubator, which we have at most Pokemon Centers for trainers like you to use. It uses Psychic energy to keep your egg suspended in midair at all times. Short of deliberately trying to break the case, your egg will be safe until it hatches, at which point we merely ask you give it to the Nurse on duty at the closest Pokemon Center."

Ruby examined the incubator from multiple angles, impressed by this technological wonder. "Wow! Thanks Miss Joy! I'll do my Rubesty to keep it safe!" She declared, raising her arms to the sides of her head in determination.

Nurse Joy giggled at her enthusiasm. "That's all we ask Miss Kurosawa. Do your best to keep it safe, and the incubator should do the rest of the work."

* * *

"Wow!" Hanamaru cried, looking at the incubator up close, "Dad's told me about these, but I've never seen one up close! It's the future, zura!"

"Um, yeah, it's pretty cool," Ruby agreed, "although you'd think this is a bit big to carry around for extended periods of time, it actually feels really light to carry! Even lighter than when we had just the egg!"

Hanamaru pondered this for a moment. "If they already used Psychic-type power to make the egg levitate, it probably wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume they also used that same energy to make the container easier to carry."

"I guess that makes sense," Ruby conceded, "although I'm just impressed that someone was able to take the time to make the technology in the first place. How do you even store and use Psychic energy like that? I was a bit suspicious of it to be honest, so I added a small pillow under it and on top of it, just in case something in the incubator cracks."

"I don't really understand it," Hanamaru admitted, "although I've never really tried to learn about it in depth. Maybe when I'm a bit older, it'll make more sense."

"Good point," Ruby replied, "so have you gotten your Pokemon from the Nurse yet, Hanamaru-chan?"

"Yup!" Hanamaru answered. "Next stop, Petalburg City!"

* * *

Ruby wasn't sure exactly what she had expected. Maybe a different look, a big neon sign that read "NOW ENTERING ROUTE 102", or something else distinct. Right now, she just saw a lot more open fields and grass, just like the route before it. "Hanamaru-chan?" Ruby called out in front of her, head peeking around the incubator in her hands.

"Yes, Ruby-chan?" Hanamaru called back.

"Do all routes look so...similar?" Ruby asked.

"Um," Hanamaru pondered, "a few of them do, but I think most of them have at least one or two things that make them stand out. This route has a big river in the middle of it, for example, where the Lotads and Lombres ferry humans and Pokemon alike between the two ends of the water. They don't ask you for anything in return, but you can tip them with a berry or two if you want."

"Interesting," Ruby replied, "is that where you got your Lotad from, Hanamaru-chan?"

"Yes it is!" Hanamaru revealed, "I was looking through my bag for a berry to tip her with, and Maria-chan just leapt into my bag to find it herself! She tapped a Poke Ball in there while looking, and next thing I knew, I'd caught my first wild Pokemon!"

"Heh, your Lotad sounds as curious as you are!" Ruby joked, although she did wonder if Hanamaru would have done the same thing.

"I suppose you have a point," Hanamaru thought it over, "we both also have a bit of an appetite, haha!"

* * *

About halfway through their day's walking, Hanamaru had them stop to rest their legs, for which Ruby was grateful. Even if the egg wasn't too heavy, thanks to the incubator, that didn't make her backpack any lighter, or her feet any less tired from constantly walking. Ruby pulled out a granola bar from her bag, since of course Dia's healthy snacks hadn't been touched when the Zigzagoon had rummaged through her bag, only Ruby's sugary treats. At least the berries in the granola bar were sweet, she thought to herself. She did have new snacks that she'd bought after she'd gotten raided, but Ruby wanted to save them for later on the trip, especially since Dia's healthy options expired sooner.

"So Ruby-chan," Hanamaru started, "what do you want to work on today with Emi-chan?"

"Hmm," Ruby pondered, "I'm not really sure right now. We tried to work on dodging yesterday with your Maria-chan, but that didn't really go too well."

"I mean, to be fair, that was your first time training period," Hanamaru pointed out, slurping down a smoothie drink she'd brought with her, "It's not really surprising that you didn't get it right off the bat. These things take time, you know?"

"You have a point," Ruby replied, glancing down at her Treecko, "although I suppose it'll be easier to train when I have more than one Pokemon of my own to work with, whenever that is."

"Well you'll have a second Pokemon for sure if you choose to raise the egg yourself," Hanamaru rationalized, "although I'd probably try to get another member before it hatches if I were in your position, because that will take a while, unless they had that egg a while before giving it to you."

"Well like I told you Hanamaru-chan," Ruby answered, "if they don't want to join my team, I'm not going to force captivity on them."

Hanamaru just shrugged at that. "It's up to you, zura. I can't make you catch Pokemon if you don't want to, after all."

* * *

After another attempt at getting Emi's dodging skills up to par, which was slightly more successful than before, emphasis on slightly, Ruby and Hanamaru packed up their stuff and headed off again. Hanamaru said there was only about twenty or so minutes before they'd reach the river, and Ruby was kind of excited to see how these small Pokemon could get full-sized humans across a river. It just didn't seem like something that was, well, possible in her opinion. Then again, she was holding an egg that was almost weightless thanks to modern science, so Ruby supposed she just was wrong on this too.

Then their progress was halted all of a sudden, by what looked like some sort of marsh? Ruby wasn't sure what she was looking at, really, but it didn't seem natural, of that much she was sure. "Um, Hanamaru-chan, you never mentioned a mud pit on the route map?"

"That's because there wasn't one," Hanamaru answered, "this is the river!"

Ruby squealed at that shock. This was the river? "What?! What happened to it?! How'd it just up and vanish?!"

"I don't know!" Hanamaru replied, "this must have been recent though, the bottom of the riverbed is still fairly muddy. I'd say it must have been like this for maybe a week or so, since it probably took a while for the water to completely recede."

Ruby thought this over for a moment. "So this isn't natural then? Should we investigate?"

"I'd say so!" Hanamaru asserted. "Maria-chan, come on out!" She shouted, tossing her Poke Ball into where the river was. When the Lotad popped out, she was even more shocked than the girls were, which made sense, Ruby figured, since this was her home for most of the Pokemon's life. "Alright Maria-chan, we need to find out who drained the river! I need you to lead us to the source of this river!" The Lotad looked back at her trainer, giving a brief nod and sound of confirmation, before heading south, the girls following from up above.

* * *

About ten minutes down the river, the girls began coming across lily pads in the river, which Ruby found concerning. "Um, Hanamaru-chan, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Hanamaru nodded, "yup, unfortunately I am."

Ruby pulled out her Pokedex to check on her suspicions.

Lotad, the Lily Pad Pokemon: Lotad live in ponds and lakes, where they float on the surface. It grows weak if its broad leaf dies. On rare occasions, this Pokémon travels on land in search of clean water.

"It's like I thought," Ruby said, "these might be wilted leaves from the local Lotad. That doesn't look good."

"Yeah," Hanamaru agreed, "I hope they're alright, zura. If it's been as long as the state of the river suggests, then the local Pokemon might not be in good shape."

Ruby thought this over for a moment, "Surely if the river was drying up, the Lotads would have had sufficient time to find a new source of water, right?"

"I mean, this was pretty recent," Hanamaru argued, "they could still be adapting to a sudden climate change."

"Somehow, I doubt that," Ruby replied, "we are less than a day's trip away from that lake near the abandoned cabin, and the Hoenn map shows a large river on Route 103, directly above Oldale Town. Something's definitely off here, and I think we'll see what it is if we keep going upstream."

* * *

As the sun began to set, Ruby and Hanamaru began to see a building in the distance. It wouldn't have stood out much, had it not been smack-dab in the middle of the river. "Um, Hanamaru-chan, was this here the last time you were on this route?"

"I never went this far upstream before," Hanamaru replied, "but Dad told me that a few years ago, there was an oil spill nearby. As a result, they built what I assume is this structure up ahead, with its job being to keep pollution contained so it didn't contaminate Route 102 and other nearby environments."

"Wait, so this building's job is to maintain the river?" Ruby inquired. "So how the heck did it allow the river to completely dry up? Sounds like a waste of money if it can't even stop that."

"Well I assume something must have gone wrong," Hanamaru deadpanned. "The place probably is remotely automated from a bigger city, like Rustboro or Mauville. I'd be surprised if there's more than one or two people working inside."

As they closed in, Marie stopped in her tracks, suspiciously eyeing the fence around the complex. "Hm," Ruby analyzed, "it looks like an electric fence?"

"I'd say so," Hanamaru agreed.

"How is that safe?" Ruby questioned. "Why would you risk electrocuting the local Water-type Pokemon when the reason this plant is here is to protect the local Pokemon?"

"Well it's pretty high up before you actually reach the fence," Hanamaru reasoned, "and the area below, where the river previously was, just has a series of nets up to keep Pokemon from getting it. They'd have to be practically trying to get into there before they'd risk hitting the electricity."

The girls walked around the treatment plant, only to be greeted by a confusing sight. "The other side of the plant is overflowing with water!" Ruby cried out. "What is going on here? It makes no sense!"

Hanamaru tried to think of a logical answer, "maybe there's some sort of stoppage inside the plant?"

"It'd have to be pretty severe if they can't fix it before the entire river drained," Ruby argued, "you'd think some sort of alarm would have gone off and they'd have scrambled to fix it. Instead it's totally screwed up, and nothing has been done to address the problem."

"Yeah," Hanamaru reluctantly admitted, "and I think we passed by an overflow passage earlier, which if there had been a stoppage, would have allowed water to reach the other side anyways. As much as I hate to say it, this seems deliberate, zura."

"Really?!" Ruby squeaked. "But why would someone want to do this? It's just needless damage to the environment, not to mention the Pokemon that live here!"

"I'm not really sure," Hanamaru answered, "but we're probably going to have to get inside the treatment plant to figure this out. Luckily for us," she said, "it looks like the rear end isn't as well guarded."

Indeed, Hanamaru seemed to be correct, Ruby noticed. The back of the treatment plant had the electric fence too, but there was a tree branch sticking out over part of it. "Are you suggesting we break in?" Ruby asked.

"We're not breaking in, Ruby-chan," Hanamaru reassured her, "we're just doing a surprise inspection of sorts!"

* * *

There had been a brief between over what to do with the egg, but in the end the girls managed to have Ruby's Treecko pass it to Ruby from the tree branch. While Ruby wasn't sure it would be safe where the girls were going, she did not want to leave the egg alone if she could help it, lest some predator makes it their breakfast.

Luckily for them, the back door was unlocked, and they made their way inside the plant. "It's pretty dark in here," Ruby noted, "and also a bit dusty."

"Yeah, but now's not the time to be scared of the dark, Ruby-chan," Hanamaru teased, "we have more important things to be worried about."

This drew a pout from the petite redhead. "I'll be just fine," Ruby retorted, "we just need to find the control room, or whatever is controlling this place."

Hanamaru nodded, "that's true, not that finding it will be easy. We don't really know where anything is in here, so we'll have to search the entire building perhaps before we find the place."

"Maybe we could find a map of the place somewhere?" Ruby pointed out. "Not that we'd understand everything on it of course, but it would at least give us something to go off of."

"Well we don't know where they'd keep a map," Hanamaru replied, "but if we find one, I'll definitely check it out."

Their musings were interrupted by a burst of flames shooting above their heads. Hanamaru and Ruby ducked, but it didn't seem like the shot was aimed at them. "Hey kids," A gruff voice called out, "you aren't supposed to be here!"

Ruby looked up, seeing a man dressed in red. He had a cloak of sorts on, but it had what looked like black spikes jutting out from the head. In front of him was some sort of flaming ooze, but it had eyes, which confused Ruby a bit. Was that really a Pokemon? "Who are you sir?" She inquired. "Are you here to fix the treatment plant?"

"Ahaha!" The man laughed her off. "Of course not! Why would I do that when we were the ones who broke it in the first place!"

"What!" Hanamaru exclaimed, anger beginning to show on her face. "Why would you do such a thing?! You're just hurting Pokemon for no good reason!"

"I'll tell you why we did it, squirt!" The guy taunted, "we're Team Magma, and our goal is to expand Hoenn's landmass! That's why I've been here for the past week or so, ensuring that the river stays all nice and dry!"

Hanamaru looked totally bewildered by this claim, and Ruby honestly couldn't blame her. This guy sounded insane. "What's the benefit of that?" Hanamaru inquired. "You'll just throw the environment into chaos by messing with the oceans!"

The grunt just shrugged at this. "Not my problem, but what is my problem is if you think you can get the river back up and running!" He tossed out a Pokeball, revealing some sort of purple, winged creature. It might have been cute if not for the lack of eyes on its head, Ruby thought. Tossing out Emi-chan in preparation for a fight, she pulled out her Pokedex.

Zubat, the Bat Pokemon: While living in pitch-black caverns, their eyes gradually grew shut and deprived them of vision. They use ultrasonic waves to detect obstacles.

Slugma, the Lava Pokemon: Molten magma courses throughout Slugma's circulatory system. If this Pokémon is chilled, the magma cools and hardens. Its body turns brittle and chunks fall off, reducing its size.

It seemed like Ruby's Treecko would be at a disadvantage against either Pokemon, but she did not want to risk the heat emanating from the grunt's Slugma. "Emi-chan, use Pound on the Zubat!"

Hanamaru tossed out her Lotad to fight alongside Ruby. "Now it's a fair fight, zura! Maria-chan, use Growl!"

"Ha! This should be a cakewalk," the Grunt taunted, "Zubat, grab her Treecko and use Leech Life! Slugma, use Ember!"

The battlefield lit up all at once, Ruby observed. Treecko's tail with the white glow, the bright red of the Ember attack, and the lesser red of the Lotad's growl caused the once dark room to flash with color. Emi's tail made solid contact with the Zubat, but as she was landing, the Zubat landed on the Treecko's back, its fangs digging into her spine. "Emi-chan, shake her off!" Ruby cried.

The Ember attack barely missed Maria, but Ruby noted that there were flames lingering on the ground, instead of the attack just disappearing upon impact with the floor. Maria's Growl attack hit both targets, but strangely the Zubat seemed thrown off by it, Emi using the opening to swing it off with another Pound attack, sending it into the back wall. "Maria-chan, use Bubble!" Hanamaru ordered.

"Block the attack with Rock Throw Slugma!" The man commanded. Sure enough, the Slugma heaved a large boulder into the air, although Ruby wasn't sure how it was possible since the thing had no arms to toss it with. The bubbles indeed popped on contact with the rock, although the stone was pushed back aways before landing, she noted. "Alright Zubat," the grunt then said, "use Supersonic on the Lotad!"

The bat got up from where it had landed after impacting the wall, emitting a shriek that resulting in a wave of white rings to be shot forward, directly hitting Maria and pushing her back several feet. "Maria-chan!" Hanamaru cried. "Fight back with Bubble!"

This did not go well, as the Lotad, now confused from the Zubat's waves, began spewing Bubbles in all directions. "Maria-chan, no!" Hanamaru commanded. "Stop! Stop!" It was too late at that point, as the battlefield had been turned into what Ruby mentally termed a "bubblefield". Luckily, Ruby had been able to get Emi to avoid it by sticking to the wall, but she knew from experience that now it was just a chain reaction waiting to happen.

"Geez," the Grunt remarked, "that wasn't what I had expected to happen. No matter! Zubat, use Leech Life on the Treecko again!"

Ruby had to think fast. Her Treecko was vulnerable, the battlefield was borderline untouchable at the moment, and Hanamaru's Pokemon was not going to be any help at all as it stood. Then she remembered what Hanamaru had told her earlier in the day, during breakfast.

* * *

"Confusion?" Ruby repeated.

"Yup," Hanamaru confirmed, "one of the most annoying status effects your Pokemon can get hit with in a battle!"

"Yikes," Ruby replied, "that sounds pretty nasty."

"That's because it is," Hanamaru said, "once your Pokemon is confused, you might as well spin a wheel to see what it will actually do. The Pokemon could hit itself, hit their teammate, or just miss entirely. They might also not listen to you or mistake someone else's voice for yours. You might as well switch out your Pokemon when it happens, because otherwise you're just leaving the battle up to luck at that point."

* * *

"That's it!" Ruby shouted. "Emi-chan, use Pound to send Zubat to the ground!" Then she turned to Hanamaru's side of the battlefield. "Maria-chan, use Astonish!"

Hanamaru looked over at Ruby. "Ruby-chan, what are you doing?! You can't just give my Pokemon orders, that's not how it works!"

Ruby just grinned, "Maybe I can Hanamaru-chan, hehe!"

Indeed, Ruby's plan seemed to work out. Emi dodged the Zubat's Leech Life attack, swinging it into the center of the field. Meanwhile, Maria actually listened to Ruby's command, seemingly mistaking her command for one from Hanamaru. Just like in their training battles, Maria's screeching set off the chain of Bubbles, with both of the grunt's Pokemon taking the full brunt of the attack. The only downside to the plan was that Ruby had been forced to dive out of the way to avoid Slugma's Rock Throw, as it had been strongly pushed by the resulting momentum.

"What the heck was that?!" The Grunt cried out, dumbfounded by what had just happened. Indeed, both of his Pokemon had been knocked out in the carnage, leaving Ruby and Hanamaru victorious. "That made like, no sense! At all!"

Hanamaru seemed similarly confused, but quickly composed herself, probably deciding to deal with that a bit later. "Well what matters is you lost, zura! Please leave so we can restore this river!"

The man seemed frustrated, which didn't really surprise Ruby, considered he'd been defeated by a pair of relatively young trainers. "Aw, fine, but this won't be the last you'll hear of Team Magma, lassies!" He recalled his Pokemon, before dashing out of sight.

"Alright!" Ruby cheered, "we did it, Hanamaru-chan!" She called back Emi, gently rubbing her head for a bit in appreciation before calling her back into the Poke Ball.

"Well, I guess so," Hanamaru reluctantly agreed, recalling Maria, "although I'm not sure why you decided to hijack my Lotad there at the end."

"Ah yeah," Ruby hesitated to explain, "about that. I figured that since your Lotad had gotten confused, maybe it would take a command from me, and I wanted to set off your bubbles without the bad guy realizing what I was doing. Sorry Hanamaru-chan."

"Hmm, I think I get your point," Hanamaru responded, "although I'd prefer if you'd just whisper it to me next time."

"Fair enough," Ruby conceded, "either way though, we need to get back to fixing the river!"

Hanamaru nodded, "yeah, next up we should focus on finding the control panel, or whatever's in charge of this place."

* * *

After combing through the now abandoned treatment plant, the girls eventually managed to find the central hub area. Ruby wasn't sure of what most of the buttons and switches did, but she knew that she probably needed to pull the big red key labeled "'Team Magma property, do not touch' out, since it probably wasn't supposed to be there. After doing so, they were forced to cover their ears as several sirens began blaring throughout the facility. The screen turned on, revealing a group of panicking scientists on the other side. "Who are you?!" The closest one to the screen asked. "What have you done to the treatment plant?!"

"Wait, wait!" Hanamaru shouted, trying to silence them over the noise in the background. "We're not the ones who messed the place up!" This seemed to do the trick, and the sirens were turned off.

"Alright then," the scientist responded, "well we're in the dark here on just what is going on then, if you're willing to give us an explanation?"

Hanamaru and Ruby then proceeded to tell them what they'd witnessed, from finding the river mysteriously dried up, until they pulled out the key from the control panel. Upon further investigation, the Magma Key had been used to lock the readings from the plant, hence why no one had been sent out to investigate when Team Magma broke in to clog the river upstream. They'd never known anything was wrong in the first place, not until Ruby had pulled out the key. It seemed like the damage was pretty severe, but the man in charge assured the girls that they'd be sending someone out to investigate the extent of the damage done, and that the river should be back to normal in a few days.

* * *

After that, Hanamaru and Ruby then left the plant, this time through the normal gate, now that the scientists had turned off the electric fence so they could safely exit. It took them a while, but they eventually made it back to the main route, at which point the sun had completely set, and night had fallen. They made it a bit farther before Ruby let out a yawn, at which point they stopped to set up camp for the night, which was probably for the best, since visibility was pretty low. They slept peacefully, knowing that the river was in good hands, and that they'd greatly helped the local Pokemon ecosystem.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Notes: We now have established Team Magma as a presence in the story, although when they'll pop up again may not match the games!

* * *

Ruby woke up rather abruptly the next morning. It wasn't Hanamaru that woke her up this time, nor was it her poor balance causing her to fall out of bed. No, what woke her up today was the sound of rushing water. After a brief moment of irritation, Ruby shot up from her sleeping bag, unfortunately resulting in causing her tent to collapse, since it wasn't as tall as Ruby. Quickly scrambling out the the wreckage, she slipped on her fluffy slippers and made her way back to where they'd passed the dried up river the day before. Surely enough, water was crashing through the muddy passage. The river was barely waist deep at the moment, but Ruby knew that it would soon reach the height it had been before Team Magma had arrived.

She went back to wake up Hanamaru, and they both returned to the river to find it not only rising steadily, but that the local Pokemon were also beginning to return! "Look Ruby-chan!" Hanamaru pointed, "the Lotads are back in the river!"

"Yeah," Ruby responded, "it seems like they moved upstream when the river drained. Now that they're back, the local environment should start getting back to normal. For the most part, at least."

Hanamaru tossed out her Poke Ball. "Come on out, Maria-chan!"

Ruby smiled as she saw Hanamaru's Lotad interact with its family, probably for the first time since she'd caught it. "This is so cute to watch, Hanamaru-chan!"

"The Lotad line is very laid-back," Hanamaru replied, "so they tend to move very slowly, unless they are provoked by something threatening."

"I see," Ruby commented, "well it's nice to see the river starting to look like what it should have looked like when we arrived here yesterday."

"Yeah!" Hanamaru agreed, pulling out some berries for the wild Pokemon, "I'm glad that we were able to help with it, although you do have to wonder what that whole 'Team Magma' business was about."

"I know, right?" Ruby commented. "Draining the water from Hoenn? How would you even do that? Sounds like something you'd read in a bad manga or something."

"Well hopefully they won't get that far," Hanamaru reasoned, "since what they're trying to do sounds scientifically impossible."

"Even so," Ruby pointed out, watching the Lotads ferry each other around the riverbank for the first time in weeks, "in the process of trying to do this, they're hurting innocent Pokemon. I don't care if there's no chance of them succeeding, they need to be stopped!"

"But you're going to be a coordinator, right Ruby-chan?" Hanamaru asked. "I don't think that your path will cross them for a while, if we even see Team Magma again in the first place."

"Eh," Ruby thought it over for a moment, before reluctantly nodding, "I suppose you have a point, Hanamaru-chan. Even so," she argued, clenching her fists at her sides, "that doesn't mean I'd be content to just stay on the sidelines and let them get away!"

* * *

The girls went silent after that, content to just watch the Lotads swim freely around the river. While Hanamaru occasionally waved out to Maria, Ruby just sat down on the riverbank, thinking over what she'd told her friend. She was never one to be vocal with her opinions, yet she'd openly claimed she'd start a fight with this crazy cult she'd just met a day ago. Dia probably would have thrown a fit if she knew what they'd done the previous afternoon, before wrapping them both in several layers of bubble wrap. If Ruby was lucky, Hanamaru wouldn't bring it up to her sister, and she won't have to find out if her guess was right.

Either way, Ruby did suppose Hanamaru had a point. She wouldn't be able to do much against Team Magma if she was going to focus on contests. After all, even with Hanamaru's help, they only barely took down a single grunt. There were probably a lot of people in this group, many of whom were stronger than the lone man that gave her so much trouble. On top of that, Ruby doubted that they would give her a fair fight, meaning they'd probably gang up on her if they could.

After all of that, one question kept coming to the forefront of Ruby's mind: Would she be content relying on someone else to save the day, should Team Magma appear again?

Right now, Ruby wasn't sure of the answer to that question, but the implications it brought with it bothered her.

* * *

Eventually, Hanamaru seemed content, recalling Maria into her Poke Ball, and telling Ruby that she was ready to resume their walk to Petalburg. Ruby packed up her stuff, grabbed the incubator again, and they set off, waving goodbye to the Lotads in the river. Hanamaru had told Ruby that the river was right in the middle of Route 102, so logically, Ruby figured that they would reach Petalburg around nightfall, if not early the next morning. Ruby called out Emi-chan early in the walk, letting her rest on her head as they traveled. Luckily, Treecko was a light Pokemon, weighing only around eleven pounds, so this wasn't too much for Ruby to carry.

They walked for a while, stopping only occasionally to catch their breath. While Ruby was definitely the quicker of the two girls when it came to walking, Hanamaru was used to exploring with her dad, and therefore tended to go longer without needing to stop for a break. Even so, it seemed like Hanamaru was tired today, perhaps still recovering from the intensity of their run-in with Team Magma. As a result, she told Ruby that she was going to take a nap after lunch. This meant that Ruby would be on her own for a little while. This was a bit of a problem, as Ruby had not trained Pokemon by herself before. Not only that, but Ruby did not have a second Pokemon. This meant that she could not train them against each other, since she only had Emi.

This meant that Ruby was now heading into the nearby woods, in search of a place where she could train her Treecko. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for, but she figured an idea would come to her eventually. She knew that Emi relied on getting close to her opponent, since the only special move she had was Absorb, which was pretty slow to use and could be interrupted somewhat easily. So that meant that Ruby should probably either try to focus on Emi's strength or her speed. In order to work on Emi's strength, Ruby would need to find a decent target, that could take a lot of hits. On the other hand, working on her speed would require a decent space to move around in, and while the trees were good practice for Emi to leap between, as she was currently doing, Ruby knew she wouldn't be able to keep track of where they were if they practiced up there.

Luckily, Ruby found a solution to her problems when she found a small clearing in the woods. Inside this clearing, there was a small, round marsh area, with a pair of bridges intersecting over it, forming an 'X' shape. "This is the place, Emi-chan!" She called out, before opening her bag. After a bit of rummaging, Ruby found what she was looking for, a small watch. Dia had packed it to make sure that she kept in shape, but she could also use it for a different purpose. "Alright!" Ruby said to her Pokemon. "Today we're going to work on your speed, Emi-chan!" She pointed to the bridges. "I'm going to time your laps around the marsh here! We're going to do regular laps in circles, around the whole marsh, and then we're going to do figure-eights with the bridges!" Getting a small nod from her Treecko, Ruby started the timer.

* * *

The first thing Ruby noticed was that Emi wasn't as fast over long distances, compared to the short sprints that she'd seen during battles. Ruby wasn't sure if this was due to the fact that they weren't in danger this time, or if it was because Emi just had low stamina. The second thing Ruby noticed was that Emi seemed to have trouble controlling her momentum. This became apparent when they switched from regular laps to the figure-eights, as Ruby saw a decent amount of sliding whenever Emi tried to make a sharp turn quickly.

Either way, Ruby had her work cut out for her. While a lap around the entire marsh took around 90 seconds, not too bad for a start, one figure-eight took about two and a half minutes. This was almost twice as long for a lap that was only slightly more distance than a normal lap. Perhaps Hanamaru had been right when she said Emi needed to work on dodging, Ruby thought. Not only that, but Ruby had timed just one corner of the figure-eight laps, and it took almost three seconds from when Emi left the bridge to when she was fully turned towards the swamp. This maneuverability problem was somewhat surprising to Ruby, considering that Treeckos apparently had really good grip, but it made more sense when she thought about it. Their species were used to shifting momentum by sticking onto walls, which left them at a dead stop. That was pretty different from changing the direction of momentum without slowing down at all.

Regardless, what this didn't help was with giving Ruby ideas for how to fix the problem. She definitely wasn't fast enough to keep up with Emi, and she didn't have anyone else that could outspeed her Pokemon. However, other than just running the same laps into the ground, Ruby wasn't really sure how she could improve this weakness. It wasn't like this wasn't important for contests either, since there were time limits on each performance, so Ruby would need to make every second count.

Watching her Treecko running laps, Ruby noticed something a bit odd about the marsh. On the surface of the water, there appeared to be...bubbles? Refusing to touch such filth if she didn't have to, Ruby instead just hovered her hand slightly above the water. She couldn't feel any heat coming off of the water, so it wasn't like this was some sort of hot spring or something. The only other cause that Ruby could think of would be if the bubbles were coming from a Pokemon from inside the marsh. Seeing one of them floating over towards her, Ruby plucked a pebble from the ground, lightly tossing it towards the bubble. Like she expected, the pop was much larger than a natural bubble, meaning that the bubbles were indeed from a Bubble attack, created by one of the local Pokemon in the marsh.

"Hey Emi-chan," Ruby called out, "let's take a break for now!"

Listening to her request, the Treecko slowed her pace, making her way over to Ruby, who wanted to have Emi nearby in case the wild Pokemon were more hostile than she would feel comfortable. However, this plan went awry, as her vision was suddenly obscured by a thick pink mist. She had never seen anything like it before, but Ruby could swear that her nostrils were assaulted by something very strongly sweet. Her ears picked up light splashing sounds, and Ruby figured that since any Pokemon that could use Bubble and lived in a marsh wouldn't make those sounds, her Treecko must be getting lured into the water by the scent.

Ruby did not want her Treecko in the water at all, so she pulled out her Poke Ball, "Emi-chan, return!"

Treecko was called into the Poke Ball, only to immediately pop back out. "What are you doing Emi-chan?" Ruby asked in confusion, before realizing that this probably was also a result of the scent. She grabbed her Treecko, before trying to fan away the mist with her free hand. After a few moments, her visibility began to return, revealing that on the edge of the marsh were a group of some sort of small wild Pokemon. She pulled out her Pokedex to investigate.

Surskit, the Pond Skater Pokemon: They gather on puddles after evening downpours, gliding across the surface of water as if sliding. It secretes honey with a sweet aroma from its head.

Pondering the information from this particular entry, Ruby could probably assume that the strange pink mist was created from this honey in the description. Their lower body seemed to be very small, looking more like stubs than fully developed legs. They had what looked like blushes on their cheeks, and their heads for some reason were blond on top, but the rest was light blue. It was cute, but Ruby had to wonder how a Pokemon evolved with these traits. Looking closer, she found that the Surskit seemed more curious than angry. Looking back, Ruby supposed that made sense, with how Ruby had her Treecko just running laps around their home for what, to them, seemed like no real reason.

"Um, hello," Ruby lead off with, giving them a little wave, kneeling down to look at them eye to eye, "sorry if we bothered you guys." Getting no real reaction, she continued, "we were just doing a bit of training here. We didn't know that you guys were living here. Sorry about that!" Looking closer at them, Ruby noticed that her Treecko had starting chatting with one of the Surskit by the edge of the water. She couldn't understand a word of what they were saying, but it sounded pretty calm, so she relaxed a bit. Sitting down for a moment, Ruby was content to just watch the Pokemon interact.

That is, until they both almost ran her over, which was somewhat impressive, considering that Ruby was on land and the Surskit wasn't. Regaining her bearings after almost being trampled by her own Pokemon, Ruby looked over to see the Surskit keeping up with Emi as it skated near the edge of the marsh. It was pretty fast on the water, considering it was the smallest in its group by maybe an inch or so. Ruby was mostly curious as to how the small bug was even able to stay above the water surface, but she hoped Hanamaru could give her a decent answer when she got back.

Upon closer inspection, Ruby noticed that the Surskit was, in fact, slower than her Treecko. Instead of raw speed, it was keeping up by keeping momentum shifting towards the middle, in some sort of intricate leg maneuvering, preventing it from having to slow down at any point. Unfortunately, it didn't look like Ruby could have Emi learn this trick, since it seemed to require 4 legs on a mostly-flat surface. It sure looked pretty from a distance though, Ruby had to admit, although she wasn't sure if there would be a body of water available for contest performances.

After a few laps of this, Ruby was sure her Treecko would start slowing down, like she had during the previous runs. To her surprise, this was not the case, and Emi kept her speed up for much longer than usual. Perhaps the competition was motivating her to push harder than she otherwise would, Ruby guessed. It was then that the rest of the Surskit starting spreading out onto the lake, breaking off from their cluster. To Ruby's surprise, they began using Bubble around the swamp. One Bubble attack was enough to take up a decent portion of a battlefield, but this was around fifteen Surskits using Bubble in different spots, and soon the entire swamp looked more like an imitation bubble bath. Ruby was now stuck on the middle of the bridge, surrounded on all sides.

Now that she was actually on the bridge, Ruby noticed a small plaque of sorts on one of the corners in the bridge intersection. Figuring she really wasn't going to get off of there anytime soon, Ruby figured she might as well read it.

 _Surskit Bridge: Designed to resemble the Surskit that have lived here for generations. They are known for their graceful gliding on nearly any water surface, able to_ _outspeed any local land Pokemon, and even other Surskit._

Now the bridge's look made more sense to Ruby, the four sections intersecting to match how a Surskit had four equally spaced legs joining at the head. So apparently these Pokemon were really fast for the area, although as Ruby watched from the middle of the bridge, it didn't seem like one racing Emi was that much faster than what she'd seen so far. Perhaps it was the slowest of the group, with how small it was, Ruby reasoned. That sounded more accurate, and she was curious just how fast the others were, if her Treecko could barely keep up with the runt of their metaphorical litter.

Speaking of Emi, she seemed to be keeping up somehow. Yes, she'd gotten hit once or twice by the chain reactions, but it looked like she was adapting quickly, diving under and around the clumps of bubbles on the grass. This was a bit surprising to Ruby, since it seemed much better than when Ruby had been training her with Hanamaru and her Lotad. She wasn't sure if this was because it wasn't framed as training or if the Surskit was just a better training partner, but the results were certainly impressive.

Apparently they weren't satisfied yet though, as Ruby's vision took another hit from the pink mist clouds. She quickly began fanning the air, trying to see what was going on. Grumbling to herself about how ridiculous this was getting, if it really was just a race at this point, Ruby's vision began to clear much quicker this time, revealing that her Treecko had crashed into a bush during the confusion. Ruby was about to call out to Emi and see if she was okay, but the Treecko quickly got up and got back to what now was a chase, as the Surskit was almost all the way across the swamp now.

If this wasn't something her own Pokemon had started, Ruby would have ended this a while ago, but she didn't want to do something like hurt Emi's pride by calling it off. She also was still stuck on the bridge because of the bubbles, which didn't help matters. It was somewhat ironic that she'd gotten the really competitive starter Pokemon, when she herself was definitely not anywhere near as competitive. Ruby also wasn't sure if this would translate when she started doing contests, since it wasn't really the same as normal battles.

Annoyed as her vision went away _again_ , Ruby considering getting a bird Pokemon just to keep fog and mist away, using Gust or some other wind move. This time when it cleared, Ruby was surprised at what she saw. Not only was her Treecko still going, but most of the bubbles had cleared out from the edge of the swamp! In fact, she was actually catching up to the Surskit! Ruby started cheering her on, confident that the race was nearly over, if it could still be called a race at this point, when in fact it was more just some sort of strange grudge match.

However, it appeared that there was one more trick left to reveal, as the Surskit suddenly doubled in speed, surrounded by some sort of white glow on all sides. Dashing towards Emi, it seemed too fast to counter, until Ruby's Treecko did the same thing! With this newfound speed, Emi leaped forward, bouncing off of her adversary, before leaping off of a sequence of bubbles around the bridge, landing neatly on Ruby's head. Feeling a vibration in her pocket, Ruby pulled out her Pokedex, opening it to the Treecko info page, now with a 'New!' label on it. Underneath her Treecko's description, it had Pound, Leer, and Absorb, Treecko's moves. Now, however, there was a fourth move on the list: Quick Attack.

From what Ruby had seen, this must have been how Emi had countered the strange pink mist, it had used this new move to leap from bubble to bubble, crossing the pond out of where the mist was strongest. It was a weird idea for sure, but as Ruby had seen, it had obviously worked. Regardless, it looked like their little rivalry had settled down. Emi was resting on her shoulder, with a look Ruby could only describe as 'smug' on her face. The Surskit, while not necessarily done, had definitely not moved since Emi used it as a springboard. Looking between the two of them, Ruby sighed, shrugged her shoulders in exasperation, and began to finally make her way off the bridge since the path was no longer blocked.

She had just made back to dry land when she heard a cry from behind. Turning to see what it was, Ruby saw the small Surskit had finally moved from where it had been for the last minute or so. The rest of the wild Pokemon however, had confused her yet again, forming a group behind it, yet keeping their distance for some reason, as if they were...saying goodbye to a family member? Ruby blinked for a moment, as an idea came rushing to the forefront. "Wait a moment," she said, getting on her knees to look closer at the small Pokemon, "was all of that a test?"

She got no response from it, but she noticed Emi's face lighten up again, so she took that as a tentative 'yes'. "So now are you wanting to join me?" This brought a response from it, giving a high-pitched cry, that sounded like an affirmation to Ruby. Holding back tears of joy, Ruby set down a Poke Ball. "Alright, just enter this Poke Ball, and you'll be a member of the team!"

It slowly scooted forward, before nudging the Poke Ball with its head, causing it to activate. Shaking a few times, the Poke Ball locked shut with a definitive clicking sound, registering Ruby's second party member. "YIPPEE!" She shouted, jumping for joy, her Treecko crying out in agreement on her shoulder. She raised the Poke Ball into the sky.

"Welcome to the team, Mimori-chan!"

* * *

Once the sun had set, Ruby bid farewell to the rest of the wild Pokemon, quickly making her way back through the woods she had traveled through earlier. Eventually, she found Hanamaru back where she'd been before, although now she was wide awake. "Hanamaru-chan!" She cried out, waving in excitement, breaking out into a run.

A bit taken back, Hanamaru received the diving hug Ruby dished out, "Geez Ruby-chan, what's gotten you so excited, zura? You were only gone for a few hours!"

Giggling as the absurdity of her day became apparent in her mind, Ruby shook her head, "I'll tell you as we walk, since I'm sure your energy is back up now."

Hanamaru sighed at this change in demeanor. "And you say I'm the excitable one, Ruby-chan! Alright then, next stop, Petalburg City!"


End file.
